March 23, 2025 MONEY FOR NOTHING

                                                                                                   Imagine working your ASS off in high school to get into your DREAM SCHOOL and NOT being able to go because they didn't give any financial aid.  Yes, welcome to my world. I'm Not Kidding. THE MIDDLE CLASS ALWAYS GETS SCREWED. We don't qualify for  financial aid--when tuitions run $90,000 a year. MAKES NO SENSE. The only people that can afford to go to college are the RICH and the need-based students who get financial aid to meet their needs. I'm all for that BUT what about helping the middle class. I don't mind paying my fair share BUT $90,000. I'd have to sell my house and live in a tent to afford four years of college when THAT WOULD COST $360,000. So FRUSTRATING. Guess we will be spending the next few weeks applying for merit based scholarships because that's the only way we are going to get any money. Ugh. Life is so unfair. Now for the good news. I just finished a little gem written by Catherine Newman called Sandwich. Rachel (Rocky) and her family have been vacationing in the same beach house in Cape Cod for over twenty years. This year, Rachel and her husband will share the week with their two adult children, Jamie and Nick, his girlfriend, Maya, and Rachel's aging parents. Three generations together for a week. Although Rachel can't wait to have her whole family together again, she's struggling with being in the sandwich generation--middle age--facing menopause, depression and uncertainty. She's torn between the past/present/future as she reflects back on life at the cottage, time honored traditions with family and negotiating change that happens with the passage of time. I totally felt for Rocky because she's a mother who loves her adult children but also mourns the loss of motherhood and her babies. I found this book to be equal parts nostalgic and laugh-out-loud funny as Rachel and family navigate love, change and loss. Enjoy.