RV

Could this be a library patron's earthly belongings?

No, this isn't a movie review. But RV is funny and the lovely Kristen Chenoweth is in it. Singing, even.

This is about a trend I've noticed lately.

Someone yells, "What's this trend you speak of?"

The trend I've been noticing is people living in, not houses or apartments, but vans and RVs. I have seen several older RVs around town. RVs that look as if they are from the 70s era.

Yesterday, I started following a homeless guy on twitter, who just tweeted people are living out of RVs in Walmart parking lots. I thought so. Well, not the Walmart parking lot part.

I spotted a homeless RV at the library the other day. As we were walking out of the library. There was a man and his daughter and maybe the guys' brother walking out a long side us. They looked a bit askew. I'm an official eavesdropper, so I listened in on their conversation.

"I'm going back to the library to use the Internet," said one guy to the other. I'll see you back there."

Then the Father and daughter got in an ancient looking RV and drove away. Excuse me, but how many people drive around town in an RV? Especially with gas prices on the rise, again. Wait, are they going down? And where is "there," I wonder?

I probably wouldn't have thought much of it, but the other day when we were at the park, I noticed another Donna Summer era RV. My first impression was, "that is some one's home." We did a lap around the park, and came back to play on the playground.

There were four kids there ranging from age 8 to 2. Gio had his bike, I didn't have mine, so I got on his little bike and did a lap around the small playground.

The kids all thought this was hilarious, and the oldest girl thought to herself, "if that lady can ride that tiny bike than so can I.

"Can I ride the bike?" she asks.

"Sure," I say.

Of course, all the other kids wanted to ride the bike, too. But they didn't have helmets.

"If you go get helmets you can ride the bike," I say in my safety just killed all the fun voice. "Do you have helmets?"

"Yes, we do," answers the 8 year old girl. "But they're in storage."

Then she proceeded to tell me what I already knew.

"We live in a twenty foot RV," she says. "We used to be on the other side of town, but we moved over here because my Dad's been low on work."

"Are the four of you brothers and sisters?" asks my Mom.

"Yes, but there are six of us. The other two are in the RV."

My Mom was shocked to hear this, but I wasn't. It was just confirmation.

The girl also told us they were being home schooled. They were the some of the nicest kids I had ever met. They were kind and generous with each other. No squabbling or bickering. They all played well with my son.

I was impressed. They had fallen on hard economic times, but they were coping. Tragic isn't living in an RV. Murder-suicide is.

I'm not sure how 8 people live in a 20 foot RV, especially since I think my 1600 square foot home is about the right size for my family of four.

The other day I was talking to an acquaintance, "I'm moving," she says.

"Oh where to?" I ask.

"Oh I got a new van," she says. So, I'm moving all my stuff to the new van."

"You mean you got a new van," I say searching for clarification. The answer sounded like she was actually living in her van, something I had suspected for months. But I didn't pursue a straight answer. I didn't want to go there.

I remember having a conversation with a friend back in December when the economy started to purge and cleanse itself, taking everyone's money with it.

"I don't really know anyone that's been effected by the economy," says my friend.

"Yeah, me neither," I say, but in the back of my mind I was thinking, "not yet." However, not yet, has arrived.

Now, I know several people who are getting their hours cut back. And just two days ago the library parking lot was packed in the middle of the day. Perhaps, the library was filled with people looking for jobs on the Internet?

"Has the library been busier during the week than usual?" I asked a librarian.

"Yes, when the economy goes down more people use the library," says the librarian. "People use the library for job searching on the Internet, free movies, books, magazines and music."

Yes, I go to the library a lot, but it isn't a new money saving habit for me. No, it's a an old tattered and worn habit. Free books, people! In fact, everything is free except the book fines.

Just two days ago, another friend texted me, "7 people just got laid off at my company."


The following week, she was the next one to go.

Yeah, financially times are hard. But I also see people being more resourceful with what they have, or should I say, don't have. In some ways, times like these bring people closer together. And were all getting a good look at the results that capitalistic greed and war mongering bring.

Peace and harmony are just around the corner. Let's all take a deep breath and quit watching the news. Remember, the news focuses on negativity.

The old financial model, where an elite few prosper, had to crumble for the new model of economic equality to come forth. And it's coming, it's coming. I can see it, off in the near distant future of say 2010. In the meantime, all we can do is breathe.

"Breathe in one, two, three, four, pause one, two, Breathe out, one, two, three, four, pause, one, two."

The idea behind all this breathing, is it gets you in the moment in your body and out of fear. Someone once told me fear stands for false evidence appearing real. And if we are going somewhere in a handbasket, then, at least, we're all going together. I love a party.