living like no one else...

One of the special challenges of choosing to make sacrifices today so we can be in a better financial position tomorrow is that we are left with some day-to-day circumstances that are quirky at best.

Take our microwave, for example. It's a perfectly good, operational appliance. I have no trouble with it...except that we keep it in the garage. We actually have one in our kitchen that can't be used, except to tell the time, as an over-the-stove light, and a stove vent. It's a bit of a story as to why we don't put the working one over the stove, but suffice to say that sometimes it's better for your marriage to accept inconveniences! It's not as if we don't realize that this is an unusual situation--and we've had it pointed out to us that it would be simpler to have a microwave in the kitchen. One four-year-old visitor to our house followed me in to the garage to pop popcorn and, after looking around her, offered this piece of helpful advice, "we keep our microwave in the kitchen..."!

My husband drives what we affectionately term, a "grandma car." And truly, it once was. This 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass once belonged to a nice elderly lady who took it once weekly to the market and to church. It has much fewer miles on it than our 1999 Toyota Sienna! It also has a sagging interior on the ceiling, no rear view mirror, mold in the trunk and a missing seal on the driver's door (which isn't all that bad if you don't mind a perpetually damp left butt cheek and the fact that the floor on the driver's side once had enough moisture in the carpet that my husband found mushrooms growing there one morning!). Despite all these inconveniences, it runs very well--AND IT'S PAID FOR.

Our latest challenge is the kitchen faucet. Two mornings ago, the handle went all funny when I tried to shut it off and I had to use two screw drivers to get the water to stop running. I fiddled around with it a bit and got it operational again. So, now it's working fine--practically. If you figure that the hot water now registers at five o'clock, warm is somewhere between one o'clock and five o'clock and colder temperatures are somewhere between eleven and one (with temps after five showing tremendous variance)--IT'S ALL GOOD!

Some day, I truly believe, we will look back on all this with fondness. We will have newer--cars (hold the mushrooms!) and other conveniences. I hope we never forget these sacrifices, though, because besides helping us reach our future financial goals, they are helping us all build character and perseverance.

I envision the day when we are entertaining in our lovely home and one of my friends brings a dish to share that needs heating up. I will graciously tell her to follow me in to our beautiful kitchen and smile to myself when I tell her, "we keep our microwave in the kitchen!"