Everyone is brought up with the fantastic, whimsical notion of achieving the American Dream. Work hard and you can have it all. Well, almost.

Our story is probably not unlike yours. Or at the very least, not unlike someone you know.  Won’t you please take a few minutes and read this post?  It’s a little long, but it’s worth the read.  Visit our sponsors if you would, they provide me the space to share my voice.  Please share your comments.  If you have a blog, please put it directly into my comment section and I will visit.  We’ll be miserable together.

So.  just when we thought we were at a good place in life, perched on the edge of success, now we are going back to square one. The American Dream was right there, in our hip pocket. But the pocket had a hole, and we…we are out of thread. Just the other day Shane and I were sitting here saying, “Wow, we were SO close!….We were so close to making it”  (Reminds me of that Whitney Houston song: Didn’t we almost have it all?)

So here is our story in a sad little nutshell:

We started our window cleaning business 12 years ago.  (Shane had been in that field for 10 yrs) He worked two more years for his boss while getting our business up and running.  In 1998, two years after starting All Star Window Cleaning, we took a blind leap and went completely on our own.

We did well, until 2002, and we started to feel the effects of 911 trickling down upon us. All the hotels and some restaurants began to cancel, longtime customers we held.

Not only that, but little money we had managed to sock away in a college fund for the kids had been more than cut in half when 911 hit and mutual funds tanked.   We also learned that for the 12 years Shane worked for ‘the man’, his boss failed to keep up with his pension! 

Things went back to good for our business, a bit, then the economy in the last 2-3 years caused great stress for everyone. Suddenly commercial accounts began to widdle away at their budgets for maintenance again, this time only worse. Residential customers went from 4x a year, to two. Sometimes one.

So, we now have one kid starting college next year, and 2 more starting in the next 2-3 years. And we’re thinking…WTF are we gonna do now?   I had this website. It turned out to be a great form of therapy. Then I decided to sign up and get some sponsors. Hopefully everyone will visit them because every visit will generate income thus allowing my kids an easier road to college. It doesn’t cost you anything, but my kids will benefit greatly. So please visit the sponsors in the side bar! Thanks! ) 

I guess the whole experience is good for our children to live through. Watching their parents build something from nothing. To follow a dream, make it work, live through tough times and good times. Builds character. Although at this point, I’ve had enough character building in this lifetime. We also show them that no matter how ‘down’ you are, someone else is worse off. Giving what you can is your moral duty in life.

Don’t get me wrong, we never lived beyond or means, or like ‘the high life’.  We just enjoyed ‘making it’.

Shane tells me stories all the time about how his mom used to take him and his 4 siblings to the Metroparks. She’d load up the station wagon and the kids would frolic in the water, observe nature and have great fun together. She did this not because she loved the great outdoors, but because times were very tough and she wanted to show her children the world, she just couldn’t afford much. She wanted to watch her children laugh and bond without knowing that this simple trip to the park was all she could provide for them.

And here we are. Full circle.  Long gone is the vacation out west. Sedona is a far away place. San Francisco is just a memory. Lately, we’ve spent more time taking hikes in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park & the Metropark system than I care to count. So I have a whole new appreciation for my mother in law. A strong woman trying to raise 5 kids on her own. Giving memories not glued together monetarily, but with love. It’s fantastically sad, yet not.

I look at my own kids. So much potential. So smart, great grades. Involved in the community, with service, leadership groups, the whole shebang. I want them to go on to college. They want to go to college. They will get there. My dream now is to get them to their dreams. That’s it.

Just yesterday we received a letter in the mail that Alan was recommended by his teacher to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine next summer. What an honor! To think about what these young minds can accomplish just astonishes me to no end.

So.  Again.  Pleasevisit my sponsors.  Visit the sponsors of all blogs you visit.  You never know who you may be helping out.  And there are so many people hurting right now.  Donate a few cans of food to your local foodbank.  Three times as many people are in need.  If you are not one of them right now, donate a can or 2.
Donate your time.  Go read to people in nursing homes.  You never know how your smile will brighten the day of someone.   And if you think this post can benefit someone, please email it to them.

Tonight when I go to sleep, I will dream a new dream.