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I've known Jack since 1988. Despite our 25-year age difference, we became friends and have been in semi-regular touch for sixteen years.
Now, I'm pretty well addicted to music, to a point at which I've spent several hundred dollars at a clip on records and CDs when I had the money. However, I always made certain that I first took care of my basic monthly obligations, such as food and rent.
Jack, too, is a music addict (that's why we're friends!), but his spending habits are considerably less responsible than mine. The whole time I've known him, Jack has spent whatever he wanted on records and CDs. Then, and only then, would he think about paying his mortgage, electric and phone bills, car insurance, etc. And if he had spent all his cash on music, then Jack would let the other stuff slide. Small wonder that three different women divorced him!
As an aside, Jack also has had problems in the past with addiction to alcohol and narcotics. He was able to overcome those problems, but his obsessive/compulsive personality obviously has redirected itself toward his music-buying.
Anyway, Jack reached a major low point a few years ago, when he lost his house due to non-payment of his third mortgage. He had money to pay the damned thing, but instead spent it on, you guessed it, CDs. It is no exaggeration that Jack lost that house because of his CD collection! Now, Jack rents a place one town over from where his old property is located.
When Jack retired last year, his 401(k) had $20,000 in it. Today, it's all gone. To say that he went ape shit with that money would be an insult to our simian friends! Along with CDs, Jack also inexplicably invested in such things as a kayak, a $250 shrink-wrapping machine he got from an infomercial, hundreds of dollars worth of Bible-study books, a special radio that allows him to pick up faraway AM stations that broadcast obscure oldies music, and an $80 flashlight that he claims will last him ten years or more.
Having pissed through his $20,000 retirement account in less than a year, Jack now has to survive on about $1,000 a month in Social Security benefits, and he's not making ends meet. His rent alone is $700 a month!
Now comes the worst part.
Not too long ago, Jack heard from his sister in Maine (five minutes from the Canadian border), with whom he hadn't been in touch in longer than 20 years. There was no animosity between them; they simply weren't close, likely due to her being 12 years his junior. Whatever the case, Jack's sister had somehow heard about his predicament, and had an offer for him. The sister knew of a 14- by 66-foot trailer for sale a couple of towns over from her, and offered to put a deposit down on it for Jack. The sister would put the deed in her name, and Jack would pay her rent for the trailer.
So last weekend, Jack drove 12 hours to Maine (a state in which he had never been in his life) to see this trailer. Long story short, he has decided to buy the place and relocate to Maine. He came back to Connecticut after only four days up there and is hellbent on relocating.
I, and his other friends in Connecticut, all think that Jack is making a serious mistake! For one thing, we're suspicious of his sister, who all of a sudden appeared out of nowhere with this offer of a trailer. We're afraid that she may have gotten stuck with a lemon and is trying to pawn it off on Jack, who is gullible as hell. (Jack's extreme gullibility is a whole other story!)
Despite his considerable skills as a handyman, Jack never checked the trailer out in any detail. All he cared about was whether his CD collection would fit in the trailer, so he spent his time up there with a fancy-shmancy tape measure, taking measurements of the place so he could compare it to his house in Connecticut. And that was *all* the checking he did! Hell, when I asked if the trailer had a phone line, all Jack could tell me was, "I don't know."
Several of us who count ourselves among his friends have tried talking to Jack about his rash decision, urging him to think it through before he makes such a life-altering move. But he has it in his head that he can no longer afford to live in Connecticut, and has no choice but to take the trailer in Maine, which he calls "the opportunity of a lifetime." We've pointed out to him that his "rent" would be only a fraction of his expenses. For example, what about heating his trailer during those long, bitterly cold Maine winters? But Jack remains convinced that he can live cheaply in Maine, to a point at which he'll have the $10,000 mortgage paid off in just two years.
Did I mention that the trailer, and the lot it comes on, is only $10,000? Jack apparently is unfamiliar with the cliche, "You get what you pay for." As for his being able to pay the moirtgage off in just two years, I can't help but wonder where my old friend gets his math skills!
What we all find particularly troublesome is that Jack has not demonstrated the slightest hint of excitement or anticipation about his pending move. It seems to us that he really doesn't want to leave Connecticut, but is going anyway. We're afraid that once he gets up there, Jack will realize that he made a mistake, but with no money to move again, he'll be stuck in Northern Maine for the rest of his life.
Jack has had previous problems with depression, which we're concerned will rear its ugly head again once he's in Maine, hundreds of miles from anybody who knows or gives a shit about him. (His sister lives a half-hour from the trailer she's pawning off on Jack, but we've our doubts as to whether she'd be willing to help him out if Jack should need it.)
Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. I'm just very worried about Jack, who I'm convinced is about to make the biggest mistake of his life. And that's saying a lot if you know Jack!
What to do, what to do? :(
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