HD Living

HD usually stands for "high definition", but in this case, it stands for "high density".  It is a phrase I heard recently when it comes to describing apartment home living.

It describes, in two words, the stacked on top of each other, nestled right side by side, everything looks the same,  row after row, mile after mile of apartment complexes.  Major cities are surrounded by them.  

Inside these communities, some the size of a small town, live peoples of all color and ethnicity.  There are as many different languages spoken as there are styles of clothing.  

Some of the occupants have lived in their apartment for years.  They know their community and most of the people who live there.  Then there are the ones who come and go. This has probably been the hardest thing for me to wrap my small town mentality around, or maybe I should refer to it as my Mid-West upbringing.  

I grew up believing that everyone had a dining room table and many other pieces of useful furniture and they lived in the same place for.....well....for like, forever.   I know better now.  I know the young single mother who has not one piece of furniture in her apartment.  I know the family that has possibly ten to twelve family members, all living together in a one bedroom unit.  I've seen them come in the middle of the day, only to leave a month later in the middle of the night.

I feel for the children who do not know what it is like to have some sort of constant in their life.  I miss the young Hispanic girl that I met at the end of the school year, while walking Runtly, the ever so entertaining Jack Russell Terrier.  I have know idea when she left, or where she went.  We never exchanged names, but she sure loved the dog.

I have seen apartments completely full of furniture, left behind.  If there is no money for the rent, there is no money for a moving van. I wonder if they are living out of their car.  

So, the moral of the story seems to be.....be thankful.  Be thankful if you have clothes on your back and a whole closet full that haven't been worn in years.  Be thankful if you only have but one chair to sit in.  Be thankful if you have a job, even if it is not the job of your dreams.  Be thankful if you have a mode of transportation that gets you from point A to point B, even if its a clunker.  Be thankful if you have a roof over your head, that leaks during a summer rain storm.  Be thankful for all the things in your life, good and bad. Most importantly, remember to pray for the ones who have it so much worse than you could ever imagine.