Snakes and Ladders
Qualified. Got a good job. Had work linked credit card. All petrol, overseas calls and Vogue paid for(once a fashionista always a fashionista). Yep, I was only landing on ladders. I had the cutest, best behaved baby possible, we nicknamed him the Gerber baby, he was that cute. Stunning house, mortgage paid off in full in a few years. I was not yet 30. I was so in sight of number 100 on that board.
Then baby number two, then autism, then epilepsy. I was landing on a few snakes, but I could still see the number 100. Then adverse reactions to medication, brain damage. Baby number three. Life was too hectic.
We decided to move, make a fresh start. In hindsight I believe this is called a stress reaction or trying to run away from your problems. Please note this distraction will only work for so long. In a stressful situation, take a holiday instead and reassess things,or sit on top of a hill and drink in the view and breath. Do not buy a massive, overpriced Victorian wreck(Sarah Beeny’s influence has a lot to answer for). For a while we did lose ourselves in restoration and creating a thing of beauty. It was a brief interlude, I think we must have missed a few rolls of the dice at that point.
Then recession and reality hits. Bridging loans. Job losses. House prices dropping like stones. The snakes were getting longer and I was forced further down the board.
We are forced to sell. We relocate and after a couple years we finally manage to buy a little house,but of course, now have a big mortgage. I throw the dice again. Another snake, more redundancy,sick child,too broke to pay my bills(what is it with the gas and electricity companies increasing the bills drastically year after year). I am nearly back at the beginning of the board. Crap. How did this happen. Why aren’t I landing on ladders any more?
But I’m not throwing the board and dice at the world in a tantrum because I’m losing,although I can sometimes relate to that feeling aka packing it all in and back backing around the world or sticking your head in the sand. I’m still in the game,I have no choice,I have to win this game. Odds are, having encountered so many snakes I’m overdue to climb some ladders soon. Vertigo here I come. I’ll handle the dizzy heights better this time round.
Headless 