oh Jimbo, I am so sorry. I know what it feels like to be sad inside and need to pretend to be ok, that has been the story of my life - most of it. I am sending hugs to whoever can use them whenever it is ok to have them, Lilly

Big hugs to you.

Hugs Jimbo, I have been an actor in a play so long I don't feel real, the plastic mask I wear hides sadness too, the sadness real, the rest of me I don't know, I am sorry for your sadness, you are not alone in the pretending...I wish it were not so! Hope, Comfort and Support!

I haven't found the magic wand to remove that sadness, but there are consolations available. The Lion King we can do. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x39gv62 Not as exciting as a movie theater, but you get to talk about the movie while you watch. Home-made popcorn is one of the cheapest good-for-you munches on the planet.

Wish the rest was as easy to fix.

Hope healing happens here.

((hugs)) I hear you

Poverty and sadness go hand in hand for me too. Hope you enjoy the outing.

((((((Hugs))))))))) Jimbo I'm sorry you are feeling so sad. I know when I don't sleep I get overwhelmingly sad. Rest might help. Hope your outting went well.

I'm sorry you went through a job loss. Our family has experienced this too and losing a home and filing bankruptcy and all the humiliation that goes along with that but you know only two years later and it really is okay. We went two years on half the income we were use to before being forced out of our home...we relocated and took a chance on a job that has been slowly putting us back on our feet. The moral of the story we learned that things we once thought were certain like money are much less certain than we believed. We have learned to be very frugal and although we have more money I still use all those frugal skills for our benefit. I realized now how wasteful we were but it wasn't until I was forced to stop that I found out how to live on less and be happy. Little things that I never thought anything of I am much more appreciative of. I am also much more sympathetic to others that are struggling I really know how you feel. Nothing ever stays the same it just doesn't. You won't always be in this place. I spent alot of time reading through travels of families on this website you can google it for fun if you want but it is families on the road. Blogs of families that live full time in their RV's traveling the US and other countries. Why does this appeal to me. Well I love to travel but these families have forgone lifes comforts and chose to live a life at least for a period of time in a very unconventional way. Get out of the box and find another way. Dream again. Live again. It can happen. One day at a time. Also nature is life's healer, it is free and always available to be enjoyed. (((Hugs)))

I have been downwardly mobile socio-economically myself in the last 16 years. It's hard for me to take a financial inventory of it all.