It's been two years this day.
I still struggle emotionally in her absence.
“Black birds tend to like shiny things.” ~ The Bloody Raven.
This is now the second anniversary of the passing of my best friend and roommate Debbie. We were friends for some time before we became roommates as it now seems long ago. She was self employed as a professional house cleaner. Fiercely independent, generous, and always had a helpful spirit in her circle of friends. We met at a church concert where she was at most her element being available to anyone who needed support and encouragement. At the time I though she was a Deaconess.
I was relatively new in the faith and not quite trusting of others. I was still in the process of a life make over to walk the straight and narrow. To have a purpose in life, to be a productive person and to work at putting away the old painful life for a new one. Debbie welcomed me as a part of her circle of friends.
One thing I was amazed about is that she literally lived by faith. A professional House Cleaner didn’t pay a lot. Sometimes she supplements her living expenses working in retail sales but even that could not afford her own apartment. She admitted that she often had a roommate arrangement with a friends. When one Roommate got married, she had to leave. Only to find another Roommate for some time when that new roommate got engaged and was politely kicked out again. In between she had connections to ‘House Sit’ for clients that vacationed or traveled for months at a time for a fair fee.
Then that day came when she needed a place to live. I had space in my rental apartment and I’d be happy to accommodate her. She looked after the young boys as I worked. And one day I said to her, “We’re losing this apartment.”
Debbie’s eyes rolled, “Here we go again. When do I move out?”
With a straight face I replied, “At the end of this month.”
“Only two weeks notice, I can’t find a place in so short of notice.”
“I already found a place for you.”
“Where? How?”
I smiled and looked her in the eyes, “My new house, it’s about ten blocks east of here!”
And we’ve been solid Roommates since.
2024 Samoa $2 The Creator
I know Debbie would have loved this Creator silver coin. She thought it cool for me to get the Yeager's 5 Troy oz. fine silver cross and she loved it for it's simplicity. It's the Baptist's style because ...He is Risen!
He is risen indeed!
I remembered the day we agreed with my ideal of Stacking gold and silver years ago. We were trying to grow our Emergency Savings Fund but the GIC interest rates kept getting lower, made worse as the meager return is also taxable income. With Inflation it didn't seem fair to work so hard to build a cash safety net only to watch it's buying power whittled away.
2024 Samoa $2 The Creator
We had to structure our savings in a logical and rational manner. At the time we had about $5000 CAD scraped together after bills and expenses. If a household repair was needed, we could commit a maximum of $4000 of the $5000 total and hold back the remaining $1000 for urgent medical expenses only. If a medical need came up we could commit the entire $5000. So the priority is medical. Home repairs can be on my Line of Credit temporarily.
The last blooms for September.
The catch was that the $5000 had to remian liquid, locked into 30 day rotation of GICs maybe more depending how my bank structured their return rates. Any Savings over the $5000 threshold I can commit to stacking. We had hot water tank failures, worn out our furnace twice, various appliances that stopped working at different times, and lawn mowers never last more than three years. Each replaced in a timely and painless manner.
Working Holidays, weekend shifts and my side gig moved that threshold up to $6000 and so on.
This policy worked great, as long as problems didn't happen all at once.
"Deb, you know my boys and I miss you very much. So I look forward to one day be with my best friend again. Put in a good word for me Sis!"
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ~ Col 1:16 NKJV
Thanks for dropping by my blog. ☕️
The #piratesunday tag is the scurvy scheme of Captain 
Scottsdale mint.
The Coinshoppe; The Creator silver coin.
Photos are my own shot with an ancient 2018 Samsung SM-A530W or Samsung 23FE.
P. Image under Pixabay
W. Wiki Commons
☠️🎃 Page Dividers by thekittygirl. ❄️🌞
Cameo Raven Brooch from The Black Wardrobe.
