Well, here I am, a long time lurker/poster. Labeled by the "pollys" as a "doomer", tho I always thought of myself as a preparer.

We prepared for up to a 7 for approximately a yrs length. Only mentioned to family and close friends that they might want to check out the Red Cross' advice on preparation. Most did and heeded that advice. Have gotten no ill reaction from friends or family. In fact, my best friend and her husband said they respected and admired us for our courage and conviction. Well, I'm not sure it had much to do w/courage, but I thanked them muchly. :-)

Will never go back to having a JIT pantry. Fully intend on using all food.

We always had Plan A and Plan B. Plan A for if things were bad. Plan B for if things weren't. So as I was buying my food, I was careful to lay in a variety and buy only things we would actually like eating. We have rice and beans, but not a cubic ton of it. In fact, my doofus brother was under the impression that is ALL we stocked up on! Sheesh. But I have a ton of great recipes to use this stuff and will only spend about $50 a month on perishables for the next 8-9 months.

This coincides perfectly w/our plan B plan to go on a money diet. (Just to clear it up, I would be suprised if we spent a total of $1000 on Y2K prep. No generator, no chemical toilet, no silver, no gold, just low-cost basic items. Couldn't really afford to do otherwise.)

We are turning off the internet and digital cable. Going back to the somewhat simple life we led before I heard of y2k. Ironic, huh? But it is much quieter w/out the TV and we tend to read and talk more. Getting back into my meditation and study of Buddhism. Looking for a different church (I am Methodist and am wanting a church that is even simpler than that).

Selling our house in the burbs and moving south, closer to my job and my husband's job (a much much smaller suburb). No more long commute. POssibly trading in the minivan on a smaller, more fuel-efficient, cheaper car.

We feel we can now pursue our dream of expanding our family through fostering, or adoption of foster children, and are focusing on that now, as well.

The preparation we did for Y2K has been, all told, wonderful for us. Never before were we forced to examine our priorities in life so very closely. Never before have I TRULY felt like each day was a gift. Before preparing for y2k I had never accepted my own mortality, something very very hard to do. I now have. I see things completely differently than I did before.

If there is a recession or inflation or higher unemployment numbers coming up, oh well. We are ready. If it doesn't happen, good, too. We are ready for that.

Y2K HAS affected me directly, btw. Will put that in another post, as it is interesting and I am thinking it would be buried here.

Please forgive my rambling. I just wanted to post here one last time with my thoughts. I am deeply grateful that Y2K turned out to be nothing. I was so thrilled to see my 8th graders again. And all my family and friends. For me, this has been the best new year's ever.

Thanks everyone. I should be known by my real name, Kellie.

-- preparing (preparing@home.com), January 05, 2000

Answers

Kellie -- great post, thanks! We did foster care for 10 years (though now many years ago). Tough but rewarding.

.... I do my meditation ON the net ....

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), January 05, 2000.

Great Post!!!! Thanks

-- GratefulStill (Grateful@ButStillWatching.com), January 05, 2000.

Kellie: Thanks for all of your great posts, including this one. Best wishes to you and yours.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), January 05, 2000.

Kellie,

"Getting back into my meditation and study of Buddhism."

Nice to see a post from a fellow student of Buddhism!

Sort of off the topic, but something I wanted to say is this: One of the consistantly annoying aspects of this whole experience for myself has been the tendency of the media, amongst others, to paint all of us who prepped as a bunch of wild-eyed right-wing militia members. As someone whose thinking has always been left of center and whose religious interests are as far from the realm of Oral Roberts and Jerry Falwell as one can possibly go, I have found this depiction to be merely yet another attempt by TPTB to marginalize those with divergent views. I have learned a great many valuable lessons through this as well, far to many to list here.

One of those lessons was this: not to paint certain types of people with as broad a brush as I used to. I always had this notion that conservative Christian types were of a limited mindset, one that accepted easy answers. There are, to be sure, a lot of conservatives on this forum, people whose points of view are likely far different than mine on a great many issues, but aside from a few obvious lunatics and hotheads I have seen that a great many of these people are far from the ignorant and thoughtless followers I had envisioned them to be. And having encountered and witnessed such vitriol directed at them from that side of the political fence that used to distrust the government categorically when such as Nixon was at the helm, I have been forced to conclude that the designation "liberal" (one definition of which is "broadminded") no longer means what it once did.

John Ludi, friend of freethinking people everywhere.

-- Ludi (ludi@rollin.com), January 05, 2000.

Kellie,

A beautiful post! Good luck to you and yours in all that you do.

-- eve (123@4567.com), January 05, 2000.

Kellie!! Have a good one, and we'll all catch ya on the flip side. Best to you an' yours. Peace.

-- Billy Boy (Rakkasan101st@Aol.com), January 05, 2000.

Billy Boy: Bet you're breathing a sigh of relief what with that little one on the way, eh? Best of luck to you and your wife. Strap on your seatbelt for the hairiest and most wonderful ride of your life! (Parenthood...)

Take care!

-- preparing (preparing@home.com), January 05, 2000.

May God bless you and your family in the coming years, Kellie. I have read your posts for months and have appreciated your thoughts and comments. Much love to you and yours.

-- (Vincent@manof.God), January 05, 2000.

Kellie:

Thanks for the nice post. Do you have a link to the Red Cross' advice you mentioned?

-- Interested Spectator (is@the_ring.side), January 05, 2000.