Staying Positive

Yesterday, a couple blocks from our house, there was a drive by shooting with 2 people killed. The names are still not being published, but apparently there were 2 cars involved. Driving down a busy street they apparently took aim. The car with the two deceased rolled into a shed. On my way to the grocery store, I had to go around a whole city block that was blocked off by about a total of 20-30 police cars and yellow tape. Along with about every local news station van.

I get a call from my dad and then my mother called to ask, 'how everything was on drive by alley'. To say that it's annoying is an understatement. Before it's even said, Hubs and I can hear the Naysayers singing in our head, 'I told you so'. Initially, we were ready to "book it". We looked on realtor.com and dreamt of a 4 bedroom 2 bath ranch with a pool and top notch public schools in the suburbs. But, as the saying goes, tomorrow is a better day.

This morning, the rain storm died down and I noticed that all of yesterday our neighbors were out chatting it up about the incident. It was then that I realized despite how our neighborhood may look to those naysayers, they are a pretty involved and hard working bunch. This got me snowballing into a positive train of thought. What are all the pros of this house? So, here goes.

• It's fairly small so it's cheap to heat and cool.
• Hubs' commute on his bike to work is about 10-20 minutes depending on his peddling effort.
• Because we bought below our means, we are able to afford our mortgage payment easily and we are never trying to scrounge up money for things because of it. This then has the domino effect in other avenues of our life. Such as, our family fights less and our marriage isn't strained because of finances (One of the most popular reasons for divorce). Eldest is able to go to what we think is the best Catholic school in town. This means he is getting the best education both academically and spiritually. We are also able to treat ourselves every once in a while without sacrificing one of our fundamental beliefs and that is staying debt free except for the house. I'm able to still stay at home, which really was a dream of mine.
• Hubs is able to fix up a house. Something he has dreamt of doing ever since he got out of college.
• We are close to some of the best shopping and restaurants in the city.
• We are extremely central to all of the freeways out of town which means we really don't have to deal much with traffic.
• We have a great investment opportunity with this thing. If we stick it out for the next few years it could really be a benefit to us in the future.
• We do have great neighbors on all sides of us.
  
• We are surrounded by parks and playgrounds.
• The house is old but it does have character (including hard wood floors and spacious bedrooms) and a huge lot with mature trees, which most new homes don't have.

That's all I can really brainstorm up for today. I'm sure I could add to those things or, even make it another entry but for today that's what I have. We know we are in it for a while longer, so might as well have a positive attitude about it!

Really though, it's made me look in the mirror and analyze why appearances are so important to me. It would be a lie to tell myself that appearances shouldn't matter and it's unfair that people are judged by them. Prejudice is an extension of a basic human survival instinct, so whether we like it or not, we will always be judged by our appearances. I'm totally embarrassed to show off our house. Especially if it is to someone I know is doing a lot better than me. But, I suppose I have to come up with the strength inside of me to get over that. The strength that says despite what this person may think, I know in my heart that we chose the right path... for now.