Warm and Fuzzy Being Poor

I was looking forward to this year’s season of the Lword as they were going to, however small, take one of the characters, Helena, down the road from uber-rich to cut off from Mom’s money and made to deal with it.

This first episode was funny as Helena starts down the road that charts an indirect correlation to the stages of grief. As with any person who has come to a dramatic shift in finances, usually from the posh to the not-so-posh, there is also a shift of attitude toward what can and can’t be done, what is affordable and what is not. So let’s take a journey with Helena in the Lword:

First- Helena gets on the plane and is upset there is no driver waiting for her. Her friend, Alice, cancelled knowing full well that she won’t have the funds to pay.
My View: What a wonderful friend, not only is she helping here with baby steps, she is thinking of Helena’s future.

Second — Helena is looking around the Airport for a baggage handler to take her mountain of luggage. Alice educates her in the world of carrying her own baggage, but then realizes all she has with her and advises that she use a luggage cart (let the education begin).
My View: I noticed that Alice only had two bags of her own, definitely only keeping with her the necessities- a wonderful value to living in the unuber-rich life.

Third- Helena finds out her mother is in Antigua and that the home she has been living in is no longer hers and neither is her car and the Film studio.
My View: Helena comes face to face with the facts; it is no longer a dream or a test. Anger and depression are understandable here.

Fourth- Helena explains the situation to Alice, deals with the idea of ‘free refills’ and tries to figure out what a Hyundai is.
My View: Denial and anger have now faded away to shock and numbness. This is where Alice is her best friend and though she can’t fix the situation she can at least help her understand other options. Helena: [sniffling] “I just… I had no idea I could feel this warm and fuzzy being poor.”

Next up for Helena is Bargaining, Yearning for the old life, Searching and with a little depression thrown in along the way, to finally getting to acceptance. Living a life that is within our means may not always be Krys-tahl or Bentley’s but it is Warm and Fuzzy!

Resources
The L Word online
After Ellen Lword Reviews