Where did I go wrong?

Anonymous-0 · Apr 21, 2011

I drive to another town to buy red dyed diesel this evening to save a few bucks. Up pulls the biggest motor I have seen in a long time. The guy looks to be middle 50's probably fueling up to take a trip. I am 68 buying diesel to fill my tractors to mow weeds tomorrow.I guess I shouldn't complain I still have my health. Stan

buickanddeere · Apr 21, 2011

I thought about my Maternal GrandFather. Worked hard his entire life and had nothing to show for it.
Observed brilliant and wise people who didn't work and had nothing.
Figured some of both hard work and planning maybe the answer.

Anonymous-0 · Apr 22, 2011

Lots of it is just luck and a roll of the dice... But Good Health is the best thing a person can be blessed with... I have had several rich folks tell me they would give up all their wealth for good health..

paul · Apr 22, 2011

You seem like a pretty happy, peaceful thoughtful person.

Who says you went wrong?

--->Paul

Anonymous-0 · Apr 22, 2011

Can't judge a book by its cover, or a man by his motor home, least you'v got weeds to mow.

60 acre hillside · Apr 22, 2011

I had rather be driving a tractor than a boat or motor home. Some people have said that I am crazy so that may explain. I could buy an airplane for what I have in tractors. He is searching for happiness and you have found it.

Anonymous-0 · Apr 22, 2011

I have been buying used homes. The main thing I have noticed is that the big beautiful homes costing over $500,000 and having 2 and 3 second home equity loans over $100,000 were owned by seemingly well to do individuals. Those people were financially strung out while living the good life. There were so many doiing it that it's almost as though there was a school teaching that sort of behavior.

Nebraska Cowman · Apr 22, 2011

I see those huge motorhomes going up and down US83 every day. I kinda wonder why those people think they have to travel with that much "baggage" For way less than they spend I could travel in a nice car and stay in 5 star motels.

S.Crum · Apr 22, 2011

Stan, just enjoy who you are and what you like, don't worry about the other guy. Not a lot of enjoyment comes from "having everything you think you want". It was "suggested" that I see a counseler some time ago and since I was only paying a little of the cost I went. Very pleasent gal. Over the course of a dozen or so sessions, she pointed out the blatently obvious to me, I wasn't going to be happy until I took the lead and made me happy and not always putting myself to the rear and trying to make somebody else happy. I took a hard look at myself and around me and decided that she was right. I found that life became much better (for me anyway) when I use good judgement and say "no" and when people come to me with their tales of woo and I hear them out and express my sadness for their situation (that I had nothing to do with), pretty hard to solve somebody else's problems before your own. "Social status" as expressed by huge beutiful homes, flashy cars, motorhomes etc. is nothing but a nice veneer on cheap lumber. If you truely enjoy paying your diesel dollar to run your tractor and mow your weeds, I applaud you! Chances are the fellow you observed spent the next several hours stewing about the cost of operating his huge motorhome to chase a whirlwind he'll never catch.

Anonymous-0 · Apr 22, 2011

Saw a guy put 400+ euro in a boat tank once............
Didn't look any different than me..............

keh · Apr 22, 2011

Sorry, no pics but I saw a Kenworth motor home in the local Walmart parking lot the other day. Dual rear axles, very few windows, real long with a Kenwoth hood, emblem and fenders.

KEH

showcrop · Apr 22, 2011

Look at it this way. Think of the guy who wins twenty million. Decides he needs a yacht. It's 50 feet, big enough that he needs a crew of two. He has plenty of money to cruise with it, but not enough to be able to both cruise and afford anything bigger and still maintain his $800,000 house just up the road from you. He motors into the port of Piraeus in Greece where Ari Onasis and his buds dock their little tubs. He has to go up on his flying bridge in order to see onto the deck of their boats. He thought he was rich, now he is really bummed out. It is all relative

DoubleR · Apr 22, 2011

I get more enjoyment driving around on my tractors trying to make a buck then I do driving my 8 MPG truck pulling my 5th wheel camper. I got a feeling you feel the same, like alot of us on this board.

wilamayb · Apr 22, 2011

Solomon said it was all "vanity" anyways. When its all over the only thing that matters is what you loved/didnt love and who you helped.

MSD · Apr 22, 2011

I jokingly tell my wife that some day I am going to sell the house and buy a big motor home. No real estate taxes to pay, just put some fuel in and live where ever I want for a while and then move to my next wild idea of the ideal spot. She has collected to much "stuff" for that to happen now though.

bobs old iron · Apr 22, 2011

i get the enjoyment of sitting/riding on my tractors in the back yard looking at my 5th r-v, boat, that sits there because of fuel cost now, when i working all the time, had the money to take vacations, didn"t have the time.....now i got time and have no money since being unemployed

CLTX · Apr 22, 2011

You didn't go wrong. You are the lucky one. I have a fifth wheel RV, which I can't afford to pull as much as I'd like, but I'd rather be driving a tractor anyhow.
C. L.

mkirsch · Apr 22, 2011

I don't decry my peers anything they have... I often wonder how they pull it off, earning the same money as I do yet living in a house that costs twice as much as mine with two new cars, a wife, and kids...

I certainly don't have a lot of money in the bank to show for it at the end of the month... I don't know how they can make ends meet.

641Dave · Apr 22, 2011

You went wrong when you decided to see it that way.

If you haven't noticed lately, for every fella in a rolling hotel there's a 1,000 wondering if they're going to eat today. Count your blessings Stan!

Paul from MI · Apr 22, 2011

Money can't win the game of life, but it can get you good field position.
Seriously I'm happier working around my little farm than most anything or anywhere else.

HP 28-50 · Apr 22, 2011

That whole premise kinda scares me. I see lots of snowbirds that have worked hard, acquired reasonible wealth and security and live like gypsies. I worked the previous summer on a project near Lake Peppin and the gyspies were kicking the birds out the nest to wake the rest of us up, but were down for the night by the time we got done with work. I guess it"s our version of a nomadic tribe. If I live long enough I would sooner antaganize my grandchildren than float around like a plucked feather.

rankrank1 · Apr 22, 2011

Remember money or material things do not necessarily equate to happiness. I have many friends who have much more than I, but I would not necessarily consider all of them to be happy - some are even borderline miserable.
Happiness and health are definitely what is important. You are blessed if you have them both.

Where did I go wrong?

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