Frozen Yogurt, Christmas and an Eviction

My sister-in-law and her three children were foreclosed on just before Christmas last year. They spent a few weeks in a hotel and eventually moved into renting an apartment.

This Christmas my sister-in-law and her 7-year old, 18-year old and 21-year old were evicted from this apartment.

What is unusual in this story is that her husband and the father of her children, my wife's brother, is an architect and a good one at that. What hit their economic life like an earthquake was US capitalism: private health care and the lack of social services here.

My brother-in-law has Mutliple Sclerosis. About 10 years ago he could no longer walk. About five years ago he went into a 24-hour care home. In the last few years his family has slowly descended into poverty.

The emotional weight of losing a parent and spouse to MS was compounded by the absence of any serious social or economic assistance from society. P's wider family has rallied around him, but his society has not. There is little money to be made from people that are both sick and unable to work. And in this society, capitalism, it's all about the money.

One of the inspirations in this story are P's two older daughters. They are tough, hard working and profoundly decent. The 21-year old has been working at a supermarket since she was 16 and the 18-year old finally landed a job at a frozen yogurt joint just last month.

Late on Christmas Day evening, after the 21-year old had finished her shift, we sat across the table from them. The 18-year old described how she'd been breaking into tears a lot lately. She described going for the job at the frozen yogurt place and how she broke down in tears during the interview. Her older sister chipped in, "I told her to do something at the interview that leaves an impression with the boss and she did it without realizing it!" We all had a laugh about that.

She explained that she gets to eat all the yogurt she wants. But not the toppings. That's the most profitable part of the business! Who'd've guessed that?

I am so totally proud of my nieces. They have lived their teenage years with a father with a terminal disease. They have had a bumpy ride in life. They hope to eventually go to college. The may make it, they may not. But in my books they are already successes.

The eldest has held a good union job for five years. She is solidly pro-union. She has all her different piercings and like most people her age, she receives a text about once every five minutes. She is a great big sister. I wish my own oldest daughter will grow to be like her. The future rests in the hands of these coming generations.