Rinse well and repeat

It feels good to be current on our mortgage, even though we are technically even deeper in debt.

But we are soon reminded that we cannot sustain this pleasant state. Mortgage + credit card + loan from Mama + living = Not enough money.

I'm still driving the 1998 Toyota RAV I drove in Maine, and it's chugging along, but the body is starting to break down. My partner's car is 2004, and we hope we can get another five years out of it. We each sell a prized possession, which for me means three octaves of handbells. I cry when we take them to the shipping company to send to the buyer in California. But by themselves they pay more than one month of mortgage.

We're still in this ridiculous cycle of sending papers, them getting "too old," and us sending them again. Eventually, we fall a month behind. And then two months. And then three.

I call First Horizon Home Loans and we go through the usual dance. This time, the foot massage complete, it's her shoulders getting worked on, while she cackles to the woman in the next cubicle, plays Solitaire, finishes her nails, and has her hair styled.

"You must bring your loan current," she snarls.

"Loan modification?" I beseech, more of a prayer than a question.

"It's in our system."

"Will you accept one month?"

"No."

"Two?"

She puts me on hold. At first I think she has gone to ask someone, but then I realize that she has to sit under the hair dryer for a minute.

"All right," she says, "we will take two months."

I hang up and experience, just for a second, a flash of relief. I have staved off the dreaded four month enemy for now.