The Early Days

Let me welcome you to the village. I am somewhat new myself and when I came there was no welcoming committee. They do not have anybody to explain how the Village runs or stuff like that. The Villager leaders don’t seem to want us worrying about those things. It is kind of like we just live here and they know what is best for the Village, them and us. I think that is nice of them myself. Having to figure out things on my own gives me a headache. If I have to listen I just pretend to know what they are talking about anyway. Otherwise I would have to put my fingers in my ears and scream real loud!
The Village leaders are a lot like having really cool parents, the kind who don’t say no. They really love the Village! So when we did not get a lot of information I did not take it personally. I think in the excitement to get started the leaders just overlooked this information thing. They are the ones who know what is going on anyway and it’s best if we just leave it alone. I first found out about this place from a nice lady who wanted to raise my kids. She said it took a Village.
She actually volunteered the whole village. I thought it was a great idea and we moved here without a lot of planning. Our kids were doing okay in school. My son has his mind set on being a professional skate boarder and my daughter has a job with a company called My Space. It is very secretive and we are not allowed to look at her company documents. They let her dress however she wants and this keeps her busy. She stays in her room all day working. She told us they have her money in something called a 401K. Her and my son just laughed and laughed when she said that. Already the Village has made them happier. I thought about that 401K for a while but it made me have a headache so I stopped.
I found a house we liked very much. We didn’t have any income at the time and being new in town had not gotten a job yet. The Village Mortgage Company told us that this wasn’t a problem and encouraged us to find that dream house. What nice people! They told us the Village leaders thought everybody ought to have a house. It’s in the Constitution they said. I looked for it but that made me feel carsick so I stopped reading. They kept mentioning Fannie and Freddie. I guessed that they are certainly respected leaders in the Village and I look forward to meeting them. I asked the banker if they were like rich uncles and when he stopped laughing he said yes. I was glad I made him happy.

Obviously they wanted us to have a house. Fanny may be some sort of nickname for the nice lady who prompted us to relocate.
She is so nice! Wanting not only to help us with the kids now she wants to help us get a house! The Village is such a happy place! It is like they don’t want you to have to bother thinking a lot. Thinking is just not good for us.
We found a huge house, the one we had always wanted but could not afford. It was too big, had too many rooms and we could not afford the monthly payments. Well, and to be honest, we really did not have very good credit. On top of that we had no down payment. We called the Village Mortgage Company and applied by phone. Wow! I did not even have to wait! Not only did they give us the mortgage they suggested a little extra to put in a pool and maybe go on vacation. I told them it was a little early to want a vacation, as I had not been to work yet.
They just laughed (I heard a lot of laughing in the background. The Village Mortgage people seemed to be having a very good time!) and said, “Don’t be silly Fannie and Freddie want you to have extra money!” They were so nice! I hope to meet them soon! So we took a loan out at 145% of the home value with no down payment! I really like the Village!
We bought some big screen television sets and surround sound systems. We bought a GPS for our SUV and IPOD’s for the KIDS! I bought a new PC. I bought a Wii for me and a PS3 for the KIDS! I bought laptops for the kids, my daughter needed a new one for her job at My Space. We bought digital cameras and these little frames that played the pictures like we were on TV! We bought cell phones that took pictures, played games, went to the Internet, played music, gave us directions and we could type messages all we wanted! They even played the pictures like we were on TV!
We shopped and shopped and shopped. Soon, tomorrow after we have rested, we will shop some more. We didn’t even have to use the extra money we got on the house. We got a call from The Village Credit Card Company and they gave us a credit card with a great big limit to buy stuff! The interest was a little high, but they were SO nice! I thought about the interest for a minute but I got a sick feeling in my stomach, so I just stopped thinking about it.