Stickers

I belong to that fraternity of people known as “stickers” so named because we tend to stay put and do the same old thing in the same old way. Whereas the average American homeowner stays in their house 11.8 years my wife and I have lived in a house we had built 40 years ago.

Ranchers and farmers know what I’m talking about. Practically every rancher I know is the third, fourth or fifth generation to live on the same ranch. I’ve known two ranchers who were born and died in the same bed. While my wife and I can’t make that claim I am a fifth generation Californian and the last of my family to live here. I know it’s the trend and we should leave California like the smart people are doing but we’re just not built that way. I’m a little angry at the Californians who are giving up and leaving so they can go mess up some other state instead of staying here and putting up a good fight against the communists and socialists who have ruined my once golden state. That was before we were overrun by illegal aliens, lefty professors, government bureaucrats, the homeless, whack-job Hollywood types and rich nerds who sit at computers all day drinking Five Hour Energy drinks and Mountain Dew who’ve made their pile of dough, bought their yacht and pulled up the ladder behind them.

I can’t help it, I get attached to things, like my wife. Last year we celebrated 50 years of marriage and we commemorated the occasion by going to the same Mexican restaurant we always do. Our last truck we owned for 25 years and our current car, a Buick Lucerne, is the best car we’ve ever owned. It’s 18 years old now, has never had a major mechanical problem, has 70,000 miles on its speedometer and when washed and waxed looks brand new. Since my stroke five years ago I can’t drive so we tend to stay home and we’re satisfied. That’s a word you don’t hear much any more… satisfied.

It used to be that the only person who liked change was a wet baby but now it seems our society can’t change fast enough. Look around and you’ll see dying downtowns replaced by big box stores and Amazon. In my younger years a family could have a nice house, a nice car and a nice life with only one wage earner but now it takes two people working multiple jobs just to stay afloat. They’re only one injury or sickness away from bankruptcy. And this we call progress?

While the parents are working their sons are home playing war games on their computers and getting indoctrinated by dangerous people. When I went to school we never had to worry about some sicko bringing an AR-15 to school to slaughter his fellow classmates. My wife and I couldn’t have kids and when I look around today I think maybe it was a blessing.

When my wife and I got married we were broke but hard work quickly corrected that. Stickers tend to be savers. We still bank at a real bank, I don’t know how Bitcoin or an ATM works, we have one credit card, pay it off every month and we have zero debt. We started out with nothing and were able to buy our first home at 24 years of age and paid it off within five years with both of us working. Today we find kids still living at home at 26, unemployed with a huge student loan to pay off. They are sad and mad and they rebel by assassinating good people who are just trying to help.

Stickers are loyal. We buy the same brands of food we ate when we were kids, use the same old tools, and buy the same gas. Some might look at my wife and I in our old, comfortable and familiar clothes and call us misers or dinosaurs but we’re not opposed to change, but only if it’s a change for the better. You can get hurt out there on the cutting edge.

And you know what? We’ love our happy home and the way we live. It may not be perfect but it’s home and we have no intention of ever leaving except in a hearse or a body bag.