Taking it personally

The writer of one of my much loved blogs recently posted about money, which she starts off by saying, right off the bat, is a bad idea. I totally agree with her- it's a bad idea (which is not to say that I didn't immensely enjoy her post, because I did, always do). But, here I find myself. I'm about to do it too. So bear with me, as I make this mistake.

Financial crisis means different things to different people. For some people it's something like, "You mean I have to fire my personal chef?" "I can't have my 3 hour personal training sessions with Hans at home anymore?" You know what I mean- these are people who are generally far too used to having everything they want when they want it the way they want it, that a financial crisis could mean one of the above.

I guess there are probably more levels of "feeling the crisis" but, I'm going to bring it on down to near the bottom. At the very bottom I know we have people who are subject to things I can't imagine- losing their jobs, their homes, their cars, their grocery money, etc. People who are left on the street because of it. But, I will admit, just as I don't personally know anyone in the earlier mentioned personal chef category, I am lucky to also say I don't know anyone in this category.

So, I know lots of people in the middle- people who are having to re-shuffle their priorities. Having to do things like downgrading their cable/internet package, buying generic brand instead of premium brand, eating out less, buying less clothes and other *stuff*, artfully arranging the payment of bills so that it all adds up, etc. Things that are not really nice to deal with, but that none the less still have one's self and ones family under a roof and fed at the end of the day.

I, on the other hand, am beyond extremely lucky (and I know it!) to be in what must be quite a minority of people who are not really feeling the financial crisis on a daily level. Be it because of our location, our job sphere (including the unmentionable o-word companies), or who knows what...but we're just not really feeling it. We're hearing a whole lot about it. But we're not feeling it.

Well, but I guess that is the lie. We are feeling it. Or I am. We're just not feeling it in the pocketbook. I'm feeling it because I'm planning a wedding in the middle of all of this. I'm planning a wedding that I wish people would attend in the middle of all of this. Now, my friends and family might be inclined to say, "Well, you should have done it at home!" - but I reply, would this have been fair to Joel's friends and family (for whom I might add the whole thing is much more expensive anyway, even with it being in Mexico)?

So, it is what it is. I'm kind of starting to realize the impact of being forever attached to someone who is from the other side of the world (literally)- my goodness, that could be a whole other blog post in and of itself- where to spend the holidays, the "sharing" of grandchildren, deciding where to live, how to do it all without offending someone at every turn! Oh God, what am I getting myself into? But I digress...

I'm not upset that we're getting married in Mexico- I'm happy about that. I'm excited for the resort itself, for the people that will be there with us for a week, for the people who will be there with us for THE day. But it does suck that people I never imagined would even question being there, are probably not going to be there. :(

So, I've said it recently out loud, and now I'll say it here, I'm taking the financial crisis personally. Because it's happening during my wedding year. Because it's affecting who will be at my wedding. Because in some small way it's sucking some of the joy out of what should be totally joyous.

And I know, maybe you want to class me with the "I have to fire my personal chef" person for saying it...but so it goes, I'm taking it personally. This is me today.

**updated** In an attempt to possibly make myself not look so bad, I just want to say that it's not that I am complaining because of the way the financial crisis is affecting me, I would have no right. I'm just saying that if there had to be a financial crisis, couldn't it have started NEXT year, or two years AGO? Why now? That's all.