Email from a (European) relative.

Last month I got another email in my once-a-year-or-so correspondence with a (European) relative, since my dad still has a first cousin there, the daughter of his mom’s sister, and she has 3 kids, 1 of whom’s a banker and one of whom’s a lawyer and a third who’s married and living in Germany and has kids and who sometimes writes to me.

Anyhow, the one in Germany sent me some pics of the family to show my parents, and she asked about us and how we were doing and she said that I should visit.

And, I had to write her that I’d like to, but that I’d been starting over in my career and I wouldn’t have that kind of money for a few years, that I could barely afford healthcare and stuff and the most I could spend was maybe a trip to New York City this summer to go see a friend who would let me stay in his apartment.

It's a little much, and I said it nicer than that, but it's the truth, and since she already knew I was transitioning careers, I don't see why I should sugarcoat reality for a family member, and who knows, maybe it's a good thing for people in other countries to know what life in the U.S. is getting to for people nowadays.

Anyhow, I haven’t gotten a response back yet, and I said other things in the email too that weren't so serious, but I do wonder what she thinks.

Honestly, the part of my family who stayed in wartorn Central Europe seems to be doing better than the family who moved to the U.S.  They stayed through the War and Communism and the fall of Communism and economic transition all the way until now and even after all of that stuff stuff seems to be going decently for them, whereas me and my brother don’t really have any good jobs to speak of and can’t afford a major healthcare crisis on our own, let alone save for a house or retirement or even a decently major vacation every year or two, though we’ll probably be able to afford some stuff as our remaining older family members gradually die off and we get inheritances that we can eat up on healthcare or a down payment on a house or a condo, from the people in our family who once had good jobs and were able to save some money, once upon a time.

Historically, I wonder what would happen if you went back to the 40’s and told our family how things would develop like that with our kids, when we went our separate ways on the different continents.