I love reading my friends’ blog sites, but lately I haven’t been able to keep up because my real estate work has suddenly lurched back into high gear.  At this point, I’m certain I have about 2,000 posts that have gone unread.  But one did cross my path this morning that gave me great pause.

Newscoma gave us a Glimpse Into Rural America where she talks about the price of pickles, cell phones, and medical treatment.  The first statement she made that broke my heart,

We are sharing food at the office. Some folks don’t eat if we don’t so we do. I wish I were kidding but I’m not. People are making adjustments.

There have been many times that my family and I have fed children who come to play with our daughters, not to mention stray dogs and cats that have been dumped in our area.  But this is something I just can’t do anything about and it makes me feel helpless, hurt, angry, and desperate,

I heard a man say yesterday that he had gone to the doctor for tests. His portion was $2000 after insurance. The doctor said he needed to go see a neurologist (he never said what was wrong with him.)

He declined to go.

I asked why and he said “I don’t have the money. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen.”

“How much money are you looking at?” I asked. “I mean, neurologist sounds pretty big.”

“‘Coma,” he sighed with a faraway look on his face. “It doesn’t matter. There is no money to do this.”

I know my focus here is on real estate and the housing market.  I do feel in my bones that it’s coming back and of course there are the brainiacs who watch the economy who seem to be cautiously optimistic.  From CNN.com,

So what are the surefire signs that we’re bouncing back? The only honest answer, of course, is that there are no 100% surefire signs. In every cycle there are wild cards that can trump even the best predictions. On the other hand, history shows that some hints of renewal are far more reliable than others. At least one of them is worth watching in every market that matters to you, from stocks to real estate to jobs.

Real estate, according to the article, is the number two harbinger of an economic recovery. Meanwhile, in rural America, we are planting gardens, driving less, and eating fewer pickles.

Photo from here.