Situation: A former neighbor from long ago, Joy was a very hard worker. Her husband, Pete, had a factory job that paid well but he was unable to do very much around the house or with their two boys due to his 'allergies.' At that time, the great majority of mothers felt that taking care of the children was a full-time job. Joy was one of the few that had a job, and worked as a clerk. We knew why Joy was working at a paying job: "Pete wants a new Corvette and I want him to have it," she told us neighborhood gals one day.
Joy also did 100% of the housework which included mowing the grass. For all of you younglings and middle-age folks, in the 1960's and before, the division of labor in a typical household was fairly strict: the women and girls took care of the inside of the house; the man of the family did the yardwork.
Pete really did enjoy that beautiful new Corvette. He drove it everywhere around town except to work. He very, very carefully backed it into his garage. No dust or spots ever were seen on the car. He could stay outside just long enough to wash the car.
Guess someone literally can work themselves to death. That's exactly what happened to Joy. She died suddenly in her late 30's.
Lessons learned: It's hard a lot of times for all of us to live within our means. What is the alternative? Many folks in these times have lost their homes to foreclosure. The newspaper lists bankruptcies every week. We are saturated with credit card offers. We must live within our means. Having had to climb out from credit-card debt several times, I know the sting of trying to make ends meet. But you can sleep a lot easier if you don't have much debt!
Outcome: Right after Joy died, Pete started mowing his grass. Within several months, he married a woman almost half his age. He still kept mowing his grass, with no ill effects. Note: this is not to say that those with genuine allergies don't have hard lives; please take care of yourselves.
We missed our friend, Joy.
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