<4 = Wednesd Bob E Hunter @ strictly personal ®. THIS” hardly ever. read about..Yet it is one of the central-ex=: Periences ¢ of life. 7 { refer to paying ott thie’ mor igage on the house... In our case, it happened some: time ago. But | am still adjusting. Sul trying to get my bearings on life again, so to speak: out the window, you see. Not ‘only’ that but 1 think’ I'm going through Post- -Mortgage Shock Syndrome. : “Nobody explicitly spelled it out -for me that there’d be a Problem like this. I thought: that paying. off the mortgage would be like retiring. { :could:wave The Finger. in the air and head off to the South Seas. “But paying off the - mortgage has turned out to.be.a bit like . ‘Enlightenment. That ‘Is, as the Zen master’ said, before _ Enlightenment, you chop wood-and draw water. After. Enlightenment, you’ chop wood and draw: E water.’ oe :L fully“expected: to’go through © ‘a » period of crazed ‘elation,’ danc- ° ing. until. dawn,’ having. orgies, “that sort of thing: Ite was? ‘supposed to be like “reaching | the shore on the far side : ething warned :: me,. of a really disgusting swamp. ‘It. was, if nothing. else,:a “goal around which one - could rally There’s;/' still". : nothing like "slavery : to make: a: one’s. resources. sperson work,’ so long:as you give ‘him a'chance to earn his, freedom “down the road... /25. “But :1."did = emit r equivalent. like:: -.“*Long’ live: the Beaver; we are mortgage-frec, my sweet little tax deduction!”’ ae Frankly, expected to be rin” ‘over. by.a truck the’ day. after we, “made the last payment.’ This is a psychological problem “that sometimes ” triumph:: - Just as we achieve some major. goal,. many, of .us become totally. paranoid, expecting to be snuffed by fate any moment. My: wife:and :I,-both ‘work combined: exceilent benefits including. ‘staff Alscounts. : GARY BAILEY - Mgr PAT MUNROE-Mgr 1 IN. Van.” 968-413. IS: something=: you » . thing in seven-years. cand. draw water. -have motivation in: life. “some touch of. the whip, even if “only self-applied,. NG human tendency is toward iner- {Ee didn’t: ‘quite cry “Praise the | ' ‘Lord; we is liberated,:chilluns!”)-. ‘some » Canuck”: accompanies / income ; makes’.a': ; mightier. assault on the mortgage : ‘thari a single paycheque, naturale ly. :So we ‘managed to. ‘will the “Yes, that’s ‘still how. bthink of ~ it. A thing: A beast. A monster. : . Something: we slew after a. long, awful, grisly battle. Let me show you the interest-rate, scars some- time. __. During the carly years, it was: an:act of faith to” believe! that there’ was some principal. down Half my raison d°etre has gone there being chipped away at. ‘ It-was our fate to have jumped into buying.a house ‘at the very apex’ of the ‘interest ‘rates. It “. seems: surrealistic now, but: we were paying something around 20 _ per cent when we started. ‘As. the - year. approached in which the mortgage would die, I found myself starting to think of, bizarre schemes about what to do: - with life: once we: were free. free FREE.-The word ‘tended to echo _ inside my skull, you understand... But paying off. the mortgage has turned out to. be a’ bit like Enlighienment. That is, as ,the Zen: master said; before Enlightenment, .you chop wood After Enlightenment, you; chop “wood and draw water. . «Like that.-And=1 guess that’ 's the source of the vague feeling of let-down. Utopia‘has riz,but the wolf is still at the door, durn it. “It turns out; of coursi: that the : family sul needs socks and no- body’s appetite’ has ‘gone. away. There is enough inflation to en- “$ure.- that nothing stays” cheap long, except, promises: It also turns out that as long’ as, we continue to earn money, there : is a government anda Senate to = “be carried on our backs. What does it cos t to raise a kid 4 these’days? A minimam $100,000 at; feast. We’ vel? Bot two: young tank’. of which “~ suddenly ‘needs to be repaired; etc.’ ; Asa “wise, /slightly-older friend: “who has been through this sort of ‘There’ ll i buzzsaw up your, ass, It is: good, Without the. great “Th Sse years pent’ paying : oft the ; mortgage could have : been spent—I’m~ not” sure. how, but “theoretically at. least-—lollygagg- ‘ing about ona beach somewhere. ? This. way, after: all. that’ time ith our. noses to the grindstone, e’re the same age but we’ve got quity. f guess that” 's ‘about: what t comes down to. oF Was it worth it? ‘Are= you kidding? “To: para- “phrase Mae West,’ ve lived with mortgages, ‘without,’ and: believe me, honey, -andl’ ve: without is better! =) 2: “UDI get over the shock. qv i just take a while.” : : L realize. now, ito. lived: Thomas. Wright, ' Thefts land. man in court A NORTH Vancouver ran ‘was. © given’a. suspended. sentence and placed on probation for one year) after he pleaded guilty to a charge:. of theft under the value of $1,000. Thomas ‘Patrick Skidmore, /28,~ "was charged in connection with a Jan. 19,1986," incident: in’ the District of North. Vancouver in-:.: volving the theft of personal Prop, : erly. , Skidniove ey under the. name of was also. fined §350..after pleading guilty“to-an unrelated ‘charge: of theft.’. “charge stemmed from a Nov. ‘21, 1985, incident in the City of. North '.. 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