Welcome, everyone, to 2008! Was it just me, or were the sounds of champagne corks popping a bit more muted this year? Maybe it's the fact that here in Santa Cruz, where I live, we've been having torrential rain and windstorms such as I don't remember having in years. It's cold and miserable outside. I know, I know - poor Californian, whining about a little rain, while the East Coast is buried under who knows how many feet of snow. Yes, I know, perhaps i shouldn't whine, but when you pay through the nose to live in an area which is often compared to Paradise, it's kind of a downer when the normally idyllic weather turns into something from a Stephen King novel.
Or, it could be the financial news. Have you heard? I've already been told by several clients, even though I'd already read it on the web: a consensus seems to be growing that we are now in a recession. Well, we've been waiting for that other shoe to drop - first, the downtown in the housing market, and then the long-expected recession to really put the screws to home sales and home prices. Would that not be lovely?
Thanks goodness I live in Santa Cruz, though. Our bread gets its butter from the Silicon Valley, and by all accounts, the Valley is doing just fine. All real estate is local, after all. A national recession may mean very little to the blissed out denizens of Santa Cruz, California. And, in a few months, spring will be here with a vengeance, and nobody will really care if the economy is receding or not - it will be time to head off into the hills on a hike through resplendent redwood forests, or climb up on your surf board and catch some of our famous waves. Or, just sit at the beach, soak up some rays, and see if you can spot some porpoises playing offshore.
I think this is really going to be a year we'll be needing to connect again with those simpler things in life, the essence, the fundamentals. It's an election year, one that will bring (dare I say it?) a long-overdue regime change, but along the way we can expect our new national champions to deliver plenty of bitter rancor and division. It's going to be important to stay centered during all of that, because what with the economy sliding into recession, $100/barrel oil, the projected continue rise of mortgage defaults, foreclosures, and an increasing unemployment rate, the alarming slide of the dollar's value - there's bound to be a lot of tension.
Wherever you live, and whatever your circumstances, I ask that you remember just one thing: we're all in this together. Cumbaya, m'lord, Cumbaya.
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