I'm much more fortunate than many. I have an adult child who loves me and gives me a lot of help. When I first moved up here my kid's financial situation was considerably less good than now. And no decent parent wants to be a burden to their kids.

I was shocked when I saw the face of poverty up here because I live in a nice small town (calls itself a "city") very largely politically blue. The fine folks who run it don't give a damn about the daily reality of people who don't look so middle-class as I do. They never ride the bus line that takes people without transportation of their own to the shopping plazas. They don't understand what it means that the only supermarket in walking distance closed a few years ago. The public bus line doesn't run on weekends.

The people who love me won't let anything bad happen to me that they can prevent from happening. A lot of people don't have that cushion.