Independence

Wednesday, 04 July 2007

My first job out of college was for the interactive arm of a full-service advetising agency here in Columbus. One of the biggest accounts I was responsible for was for a fairly large logistics company based out of the UK. The work I did on that account was pretty varied, and it often required conference calls with their web team located overseas, and figuring out a time that worked for everyone was always a headache. Since they're six hours ahead of us, that pretty much just gives us a two hour window first thing in the morning, and if you know me you know that mornings are not my preferred time for talking to anyone about anything, let alone describing to a room-full of Britons how to use their web-based content management system.

Independence Day always reminds me of working with them. I'm not exactly sure why, but every year when the holiday approached and we were trying to set schedules for a conference call, I always felt a little awkward acknowledging the upcoming holiday. You know, the one marking they day when we told them all to piss off. "Sorry, I'm not available for a call this Friday. I'll be out celebrating the day that, two centuries ago, my country's founders broke up with your country's leaders. Have fun working that day, I'll be sleeping in and then blowing things up."

Today is another sort of Independence Day in the Soell household. Today, July 4, 2007, January and I are officially debt free. Aside from the massive home loan we just signed off on, of course. No more credit card balance, no more car payment, no more student loans. It feels like a weight has been lifted off our collective shoulders, and it really makes going into dealing with mortgage payments and January's impending acceptance to grad school feel so much more manageable. I don't regret getting into the debt -- most of it put toward the wedding, which was well worth it -- but if you can avoid it I highly recommend it. Having that monkey on our backs for the last 9 months has been a strain, and going into a new house and factoring in grad school in a debt-free state is going to make a world of difference.


Tags: daily  finance 

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