You have, most probably, heard the phrase, “Money changes everything.” I have seen it happen, therefore, I believe. I’ve often wondered if the green ink in money is absorbed through the skin and somehow destroys common sense.
I have relatives I lovingly refer to as “The Carringtons.” They are rich now. I remember being the flower girl at their wedding, a modest, yet very “blue collar” affair. Everything you would expect from a family at the lower end of the middle class scale. Brickyard workers and mine workers and their children. When they moved into their own apartment, it was the classic efficiency “room.”
Dinner was one sandwich with one piece of bologna with a dill pickle spear and handful of Snyder’s potato chips. I loved having dinner with them. She worked while he went to school, then he entered the service...as an officer, a pilot. My whole family, from time “in memoriam,” has been enlisted men and women. This was new ground, and the beginning.
She stopped working, and they had a baby boy. He flew jets. They saw the world. They had a daughter. I visited their home in Spain for a month. It was a very posh “officer-worthy” apartment in Madrid (off base, of course). His overseas tour of duty ended and they went to California. They were no longer like the rest of the family. They no longer shopped at K-Mart or J.C. Penney. Target may be a taboo word in their house, for all I know. They were somehow “shinier.” These people were basically “particle board” like the rest of us, but were really proud of their “veneer.” The rest of us were merely ... “cheap varnish.”
Their kids grew up and he moved up the ranks to Lieutenant Colonel. Their houses went from base housing to mansion by the time they were ready to send their first born to a prestigious law school. When the time came for their second child to go to yet a different upper-scale college; they had a full-time housekeeper, and the lady of the house was bored silly. She went to work in the escrow business and was hugely successful. She was promoted repeatedly and ended up running the business, then ended up as partner in the firm. Now, she runs the show. He, meanwhile, was about to retire from the military, realized he’d be as bored as she was, and decided to go into financing.
Not long ago they bought a brand new custom home, with intercoms in every room, bathrooms included. Yes, the bathrooms. It was situated in an elaborate upscale cul de sac. I can cope with this. They worked hard, they gave their children the best they could, they’ve earned the right to “flaunt” a little of what they have if they want to, right?
Recently, I learned that the “Carringtons” were buying the lot next to where their house is built. Why? I was told for a tennis court. I diplomatically indicated that the children do not live there, and neither of them play tennis. “Okay, well, then, a volleyball court.” I was speechless. Unless they plan on financing a block party worthy of Guinness, the “Carringtons” now have the honor of owning the biggest cat box in state, and all in the name of pointing out to everyone else, “Hey, we’ve made it.” It seems as if it matters more that everyone else knows this, than just their own knowledge and pride in achieving their goals. Society and the color green strike again. Couldn’t they just “high-five” each other and go to bed? I have other very wealthy, some famous, family members that just congratulate themselves on their successes, and go to bed. They don’t understand the “Carringtons,” either. Those ones still shop at K-Mart, J.C. Penney and Target, though.
What baffles me is that everyone, except us, sees the “Carringtons” as fine crystal, not knowing that this entire family is “just glass,” and that being “just glass” is “just fine” with us. We love "just glass."