Ahem. All done now.

Untitled, it sounds like you aren’t too ruffled and you are ok with your “blog personality”. This is a good thing. Keep speaking your truth without censoring yourself.

This subject is one of my hot buttons, so rather than write a full blog entry on your comments, I’ll pick it up over on the Piglet.

Keep moving forward and ENJOY your HARD-EARNED rewards, and tell the haters to SUCK IT!

I grew up in a good, stable situation where we always had food and a roof over our heads, but where it was made clear (always!) that money didn’t grow on trees. Humility was enforced and re-inforced.

We were not to think that we were better than anyone else We were not to show off. We were generally not to talk about money if we could avoid it.

If we got something nice, we made sure to tell everyone who complimented us on it how we got it on sale or as a bargain or how we worked overtime to pay for it.

It was okay to tell someone how little you made at a job but not if you made a lot.

There was just a taboo about getting too big for your britches, shining too brightly, going too far.

That taboo still affects me - I can’t get away from it. And I notice you can’t either. (And apparently Ally doesn’t want you to).

When I lived in a big house with a pool in a nice suburb, I was miserable, feeling like a big phony show-off.

I made my BF miserable because he came from poverty and bought the house and was proud of it, and here I was, cringing at his beautiful prize. I refused to buy things for it, decorate it, improve it in any way, because I felt so materialistic and wrong.

It was your post the other day that made me realize how mean and awful I was being, when I thought I was being all spiritual and non-materialistic. I was thinking stuff like “How can I spend money on drapes when there are children starving?” when in reality if left to my own devices, I would have bought a plane ticket with the drapes money and let the children starve.

I am of the opinion now that it is all about being okay with what you have, not about what you have. THAT is the real challenge, the real work. To wake and look around and give thanks for what you have, and then go give your best to the world.

I think I need to clarify a few things. The three-computer thing is due to the fact that untitledhusband and I are in computer-related fields (one of the computers is paid for by work, the other two are used for freelance, which we both work on simultaneously).

We are not rich. We are simply middle class, which to us is, as the title says, an embarassment of riches. You see, both of us grew up quite poor. Government cheese, socks for Christmas, the whole nine yards.

We have scractched and clawed our way up to middle classdom. So in comparison, we feel like millionaires. It also makes us feel guilty sometimes, because we know how hard our parents worked, and how little they were compensated. We are both so thankful that the struggle isn’t as hard as it was when we were kids.

As for untitledson, the majority of his clothes are purchased at Target. We love us some Circo in this household. And it should be noted that our empathy for those less fortunate goes beyond lip service. I am a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters and our town’s outreach group. We donate quite a bit to Goodwill and the United Way each year. All this does not make me a saint, but it helps me give a little back.

I want you to know that we are not horrible, selfish, rich fucks. This blog is a representation of my life, my observations and my emotions, which are sometimes conflicted, given where I am going and where I have been. I hope you can appreciate my candor. I make a point to never censor myself, and I certainly don’t expect everyone to like what I have say.