I just finished reading a book called This is Where We Live by Janelle Brown. It took me awhile to get into it, but this morning, with nearly half of it left, I sat down and read the rest of the book.
The book focuses on an artistic couple in their mid-thirties. She writes and directs films. He has been in a successful rock band and is trying to start another one. Some bad luck lands them in trouble with their mortgage on their Arts & Crafts house in Los Angeles. Of course, I live in an Arts & Crafts-style house, so I can immediately feel a bond with them.
They had a balloon mortgage that ballooned out of reach. The husband wants to walk away from the house to travel. He feels the debt and the house are a ball and chain pulling him down. The wife, a midwesterner by birth, is desperate not to lose the house.
And that's what got me thinking. I found myself agreeing with the husband. This couple had no kids, no obligations, and I thought, of course they should give up the house. Sell it or let the bank repossess it. Move on without the trappings that weigh you down.
I remember as a woman in my 20s I was so anxious about finding the right man and buying a house, starting a family. Now I wonder what that urge, that need is all about.
I wouldn't give up my kids, and maybe I can say this now because I have three kids, that this couple shouldn't sacrifice their creativity for a house and a family. Maybe I've just moved into my mid-life crisis where I'm ready to sell the house and travel the world.
What would you advise a young couple, or even a single person in this predicament? Do you think the young people you know feel too eager to marry and settle down?
