Shock

I recently learned that friends of ours have lost their home. H. is good friends with the son - and H. helped them move into their 'new' home. The story was 'oh, they are moving into a better house just down the street from their old house'. And 'they're holding onto their old house for awhile'. It didn't seem implausible - though it did seem suspicious. I sort of thought at the time 'I hope they are OK'. But H. kept saying 'so now they have two homes'.

The father of this family died a couple years ago. And it didn't seem too off the wall that perhaps the insurance money, etc. was enough to snap up a 2nd property - prices are so low, and all.

But sadly, that is not what happened. The wife is working 4 jobs trying to keep up - and somehow got into an adjustable loan that adjusted to a payment she can't afford on her own. It's so sad.

The thing that really bothers me the most is this: this wonderful lady treats H. as her own. H. had been eating there a few nights each week. I commented to H. once 'honey, it's expensive to feed a bunch of teen boys - you need to eat at home'. He said 'Mom, she loves to feed us - it's what she does. She loves it. She doesn't mind'.

And now I find out that she was losing her home - struggling to make ends meet.

We aren't in a position to offer much help. I wish we could. I wish we could pay off her mortgage so she could stay in the home she and her husband bought together. Though that house is also the house where her husband died - getting a load of laundry out of the dryer one morning. He had a massive heart attack and died in minutes....so maybe moving out of that home is a good thing. Still, I wish we were in a position to help her somehow.

My current plan includes mailing Safeway gift cards anonymously - as many as I can afford. Anything I can do to help her out. She is a wonderful person, a wonderful mother. And a great friend. And most of her friends have absolutely no idea that she moved because she's walking away from a mortgage she can't afford. She didn't buy a 2nd home. She's walking away from her home and renting another. And doing her best to make a home for her teenage son while he adjusts to life without his dad, who was his best-est best friend.

It's so sad. She's a casualty of this economy - of few jobs. Higher expenses. And unscrupulous lenders who took advantage of her. We will do what we can to help her, without her knowing it's us. It's the least we can do.

And I make H. come home when he's over there at dinner time. She shouldn't have to feed my son. Even though I know it gives her joy to do it, it also is money out of her pocket that she just can't do right now. And she won't let us reciprocate in any obvious way - so I'm going to send gift cards...as often as I can. Her groceries can be on us for a couple months. At least.