I was going through some old files the other day, weeding out stuff that was no longer relevant, when I came across this letter from my bank regarding my mortgage. It’s dated 1989 and took me straight back to the time when struggling to pay the mortgage was a grim reality.
I’d sold my first house and had really extended myself for my second place. When I took out the mortgage on the second property in April 1988, interest rates were around 13.5% and I budgeted my payments for 15%. The creeping rates became a real concern when they went past 15% and just didn’t stop.
The only good thing about those rising interest rates was that they forced me into taking in a rent-paying roommate. I was more than content to live by myself, but my killer mortgage forced me into sharing my house with a total stranger who happened to be a good friend (and later wife) of an old friend of mine. Well, that stranger — a young girl from Minnesota — became a really good friend, someone whom I still keep in touch with today.
So good things can come out of dark days.
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 
From Minnesota, eh?? I can’t tell you how many people I know have headed your direction over the years and have fallen in love with your place on the globe! Most were teachers taking temporary assignments and then returning for longer stays. When we moved here (in ’74), interest rates were in those upper reaches, also……inflation had hit big time!! The phrase “good old days” doesn’t necessarily include that part! Have you heard anything about your machine?????