Like many of us .. too many of us .. Todd, Laura and their mix of 7 kids have been hit hard by the economy.
They lived the high life.. a home.. an investment condo.. a million dollar plus construction business.. but then the economy tanked and so did their roughly 15,000 a month lifestyle.
I feel their pain. Without the big home, investment condo, million dollar business and 15,000 a month lifestyle, their story could be mine and that's why I was reluctant to watch it.
Like me, they have a hard time making their rent. On this episode, they were 300.00 short and two days late on the rent and Laura resorted to calling her father and stepmother. And when she told them that she felt like a failure for having to call them, I was right there with her.
Having to recently close our business and with only 5 months left on my unemployment, our anxiety level is beyond high. Trying to move to reduce our rent and not finding anyone willing to rent to us because of our financial situation keeps us too late at night worrying about keeping the house.. providing for the kids, etc.
You feel lost.. you over analyze every decision you've made in your life even though you can't go back and change anything.. a lot of tears are shed.
But anyway...
Todd's reaction to Laura calling her parents is common. It's a blow to the ego.. especially when it comes with a lecture. Been there.. done that. And what makes it worse is when you have to tell the kids. I'm a firm believer that kids should remain kids for as long as possible but sometimes they need to know what kind of situation the family is in.
But it's obvious that Todd and Laura raised some good kids because upon hearing that the rent was short, the boys (all teenagers) tried to come up with ways to make money. Their solution was "dumpster diving" for plastic and glass to recycle. Honestly, I'm not sure if that was done for the cameras or not but the scene where the family searches the furniture and van for change to turn in at the bank could be written out of my book of life.
The family does receive food stamps and in this episode, one 16 year old daughter was beyond embarrassed in the only way a 16 year old girl can be because she didn't have enough to pay for everything she needed to get.
By the end of the episode, with still a 100.00 short on the rent and the stomach knot because the landlord has to be paid, the day was saved by one of the boys who sold his prized baseball glove for a hundred bucks.
And even though I should have gotten the warm and fuzzies, I got to thinking that maybe that was a little bit of a coincidence and perhaps maybe a little set up. While I don't doubt that the family has to make a huge adjustment, it dawned on me that they're getting paid to let us look in their window.
The majority of us in the same situation aren't.. and what might have been sympathy very easily turns into resentment.
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