economic retrenchment
Brooklyn Brown Blog was originally suppose to be my Husband’s blog … but just like any good wife with a super busy Husband I thought we could start the blog together so we were at least moving forward. Initially our apartment redesign was a good topic for both of us to tackle … like a Mr. and Mrs. point of view on design. To this point is has mostly been the Mrs. on design because the Mr. is busier than ever. Honestly, this whole redesign of our apartment has majorly derailed from the initial plan. It was suppose to be completely by last Thanksgiving which it still isn’t even close many, many, many months past that deadline. Also, we have since started a major lifestyle change with regard to our meals … we have eliminated all “faux” foods which are much more pervasive than you could imagine. We no longer consume anything with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated anythings, artificial flavors, preservatives or in general ingredients my Great-Grandmother wouldn’t recognize. David and I have also donated all of our canned foods to avoid the leached synthetic estrogen that is often from the seals made of bpa that are punctured or torn during the canning process; however, at this point the only canned food we purchase is tuna because the non-canned options are prohibitively expensive. I would love to be able to eliminate all non-bpa free plastic containers, but that is a little pie-in-the-sky at this point. Ideally I’d love to be in the position to only buy organic, but considering my Husband is pathetically underpaid at NYU and will only receive a 1.5% increase this year {the University cried poor, but has since launched plans to expand the campus by 40% – opportunist scum bags!} our conversion to 100% organic will have to take a bit longer … just like our apartment!
This whole process has taught me some very valuable lessons. Mainly that patience is a bitter pill to swallow, but sometimes it is more important to be patient than to be finished. I hope that I have become a more patient person, but in the end only time will tell. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason … it is basic physics, for every action there is a reaction. In 2008 my Husband was laid off courtesy of Bernie Madoff who bilked countless organizations and individuals out of billions of dollars, one of those organizations happened to be the non-profit where my Husband had worked for years … with their endowments and major donors decimated 60% of the staff was eliminated due to “economic retrenchment.” {a phrase I will never forget.} It was our relentlessly positive approach that enabled opportunity to avail itself … well that and our headstrong determination to stay in New York City! A month later my Husband was appointed to an Adjunct Professor position … it had always been a goal of his, but academia is extremely difficult to enter as opportunities are rare and highly competitive {especially without a terminal degree.} Professor David is now in his third semester and absolutely thriving!
Though 2009 was a challenge and our Christmas cards from ABCD reflected that, I think it was the catalyst to enable David and I to make necessary and lasting change. Somewhere between last Thanksgiving and Christmas we started to make small changes in our diets. My Husband decided to start making all of our bread from scratch and now our breadmaker churns out about 2 loaves a week. I also decided to start buying anti-biotic and hormone free dairy. The weight has just fallen off!!! For once in my life it has been absolutely effortless. It is my hope that now I have the patience necessary to be undaunted by the considerable amount I have left to lose … perhaps the foundation of real, significant change is the culmination of a hope nourished by love and sustained by patience.
