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Our Changing World

By
Real Estate Agent with EXIT First Realty

I think about this all the time and it was confirmed last night.  Halloween is one of my favorite times of year.  It's not real hot and it's not too cold.  I am not a cold weather person at all.  It's a very colorful time of year with leaves changing, pumpkins are bright orange plus all of the colors of the different gourds.  I think just about every color is outside this time of year.  One of my favorite all time things to do is go to Haunted Houses.  Maybe it's the thrill of not knowing what's around the corner or having the living daylights scared out of me.  I'm not sure which one makes it more exciting.  So yesterday I realized it's that time of year again so I called my sister in law and asked her if she could look online and find a good haunted house.  She found one and it sounded really good.  The Travel channel was going to be there filming for an episode that is airing at the end of October called "World's Scariest Haunted Houses", plus the illusionist Jonothan Frost was going to be there.  I am a Chris Angel fanatic so I was really excited about see an illusionist in person.  We were really excited about going.  I asked my two older boys, 15 & 13, if they wanted to go and obviously they did.  (Stupid question, I should have known.)  I would have asked my 8 year old son to go but the website said "No one under the age of 13 is allowed".  So we arrive and have to wait in line for an hour and a half because it takes a half hour to go through.  Knowing this is supposed to be one of the world's scariest haunted houses about the Legend of Goatman (an Urban Legend that has been with Prince Georges County for many years) we were ready for the worst.  I didn't scream one time.  Half way through the "Show" I told my sister in law "You have got to be kidding me", we paid $10 a person for this.  Needless to say, I think the Travel Channel should have gone somewhere else.

My point in telling you that story is, when I was a teenager I remember going to haunted houses and literally being scared out of my wits.  It would be a continuous walk thru kind of thing and then the lights would go out and next thing you know the lights come back on and something is standing inches away from your face.  They would take 10-15 minutes to go through but when it was over you were scared and it was worth it.  Nowadays, the haunted houses that I've been to, have rooms that you go into, there will be someone doing something or saying something and then you walk down a hallway that doesn't have something jumping out at you and you go into another room to start the process over again.  I could have taken my 8 year old.  He probably wouldn't have been scared.

Throughout life we encounter things all the time that we did when we were younger that has completely changed.  Another example is Christmas time.  I remember when I was younger nothing and I mean nothing was open on Christmas.  Now, I could go shopping on Christmas for Christmas gifts.  I don't do that and maybe that is a little extreme but the meaning of Christmas isn't there anymore.  Christmas is a time for family and those poor unfortunate people can't be with their families on Christmas because they have to work.  Whether they celebrate Christmas or not the point is, it used to be a time when the world was closed for a day.

Same thing with Real Estate.  I am a Realtor and I love what I do, but I encounter so many people who can't afford to buy a home much less buy food because the price of everything is sky high.  The price of gas and even electricity has gone through the roof.  In one year our electric bill has more than doubled because the electric companies have decided they do not put a cap on what they can charge per square whatever it is.  Now that the real estate market has kind of leveled out people can try to reach the goal of homeownership but the key word is try.  By the time they can reach their goal, the prices go up again and their put in the same situation. 

I am a very positive person most of the time, sometimes reality strikes and I think about our children.  What is the world going to be like when our children reach our ages?