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The Upside

April 6, 2020 by Mr. 1500 Days 8 Comments

Way back in 2013, Boulder County flooded. We had moved to Longmont only months before and now the police were knocking on our door ordering us to evacuate.

The gentle stream near our new home normally looks like this:

But in September of 2013, it looked like this:

Where the sidewalk ends… Wait, it’s not supposed to end there!
This bridge would get washed out within the next 24 hours.

However, out of the chaos, something amazing happened.

Community

During the storm, Mindy and I walked down to look at the river frequently. Every time we went down to look, we’d meet more people who were doing the same thing. We met more neighbors in the week of the flood than we had in the previous three months of living on our new street.

One day, there was a critical mass of neighbors gazing at the rushing waters. We started talking and one of them suggested that we all get together:

  • Neighbor: Hey, what are y’all doing tonight?
  • All of the other neighbors: Ummm, nothing.
  • Neighbor: Come over to our place. Bring beer.

Out of a dark time, the humans bonded and it was good.

Now, the same thing is happening, but at a distance.

Mindy and I regularly take walks, usually multiple times per day. Pre-virus, we’d see a couple of other random humans in our neighborhood, but not many.

In the past week or so, we’ve seen more people out than ever before. Meeting new folks in the middle of a pandemic is the opposite of what I thought would happen. And it is good.

I’m an introverted human, or so I thought. I miss the usual gang.

When all of this is over, I’m going to host a really big party. Maybe we’ll even get a pinata shaped like the Coronavirus and beat the living crap out of it…

Walking

It’s not unusual for me to walk 20,000 steps in a day. I just don’t like to sit inside and I definitely don’t like to sit still.

In any case, I’ve been a walking fool lately. And when I walk, I like to look around:

Do NOT leave valuables in your car!
Normally, there would be loads of cars here and I would have been run over…
#sad

View this post on Instagram

Creative, non-destructive modifications to public property amuse me.

A post shared by 1500 Days (@1500days) on Apr 6, 2020 at 1:40pm PDT

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Filed Under: COVID-19 Tagged With: coronavirus, COVID-19

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Comments

  1. Scott @ Costa Rica FIRE says

    April 6, 2020 at 3:49 pm

    As of this year, we’ve relocated to Jacksonville Beach, so hunkering down here, and the condo complex where we stay is therefore new to us. I’m sure the number of people we are seeing on our daily walks is WAAAAY higher than what it would be in normal times! And I’m also sure that people sitting on lawn chairs outside their door is also not typical ๐Ÿ™‚

    Nice photos!
    Scott @ Costa Rica FIRE recently posted…Five Ways We Are Keeping The Business Going In The COVID-19 Market DownturnMy Profile

    Reply
  2. Dave @ Accidental FIRE says

    April 6, 2020 at 5:01 pm

    As for getting run over by cars, I find this situation a mixed bag. On one hand there aren’t many cars on the road and my bike rides are now amazing because of that. I often have the road to myself. But some asshats are pretending they’re in an “end of days” movie and flying down the road at double the speed limit. I’ve seen tons of douchbags just ignore red lights and go screaming around turns as if it’s a free for all.

    In “normal” times about 100 Americans die every day in car crashes, and ironically this virus is saving some lives because we’ll have fewer car deaths. But there’s a small determined group of dick-faces out there who are trying to keep the deaths up.

    Be careful out there folks!
    Dave @ Accidental FIRE recently posted…Relative Importance In 2020, So FarMy Profile

    Reply
    • Spuhns says

      April 10, 2020 at 11:04 am

      TRUTH!

      Reply
  3. BC | FrugalWheels says

    April 6, 2020 at 5:08 pm

    I have definitely enjoyed making use of less crowded roads with my bike. And more time for walking, biking, getting projects done around the house, playing guitar and writing music (the latter something I haven’t done for 15 years!) and taking the time to dig into things as they come to me. Sure, I’m earning less money (though with the stimulus and unemployment, maybe not as less as I think) and some work stuff is extra stressful, but it’s best to enjoy the opportunities this time presents too. Good post.
    BC | FrugalWheels recently posted…What’s wrong with Rich Dad, Poor DadMy Profile

    Reply
  4. Financial Velociraptor says

    April 6, 2020 at 5:53 pm

    I’m a walker too. Averaging about 9.5 miles a day (or so my phone says. I’ve noticed the trails going to and from the Timberlane park here are lot more active. All the “touch points”, (benches, playground equipment, water fountains) have caution tape over them and do not use signs though.

    Reply
  5. Revanche @ A Gai Shan Life says

    April 6, 2020 at 8:12 pm

    We’re all virus free at the moment and very grateful but after the 3 week mark of isolation plus both working full time plus the kiddo, we’re starting to unravel a little.

    We had to regroup today and make a new plan for some kind of a schedule because this taking it day to day business is no good if we’re in this for another month or six. ๐Ÿ˜ฌ๐Ÿคฏ I keep saying we can do this but it’s going to take a lot more fortitude to keep doing it.

    Glad y’all are still well.

    Reply
  6. Mr. Tako says

    April 6, 2020 at 9:58 pm

    It’s the same here — everyone’s out walking around and just dying to talk to someone. It’s quite ironic really. All we had to do was ban people from driving around and they start walking around town and becoming friendlier!

    Maybe cars really are evil…. or jobs. Not clear which is the culprit. ๐Ÿ˜‰
    Mr. Tako recently posted…Lockdown Week 4: Birthdays, Projects, and Frugal Food FailuresMy Profile

    Reply
  7. Financial Freedom Countdown says

    April 12, 2020 at 12:29 am

    California and Silicon Valley in particular has been quite compared to other larger cities. Guessing the early shutdown in San Francisco helped along with the fact that tech firms encouraged WFH a month prior to the official shutdown.

    Parks and trails in my neighborhood have also been cordoned off. I guess our blogs will be a form of digital diaries which future generations would read to know how it was living in these unprecedented times.

    Glad you and Mindy are fine
    Financial Freedom Countdown recently posted…Cash Out Refinance And Why Am I Doing It?My Profile

    Reply

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Freedom!

My goal was to build a portfolio of $1,000,000 by February of 2017; 1500 days from the birth of this blog (January 1, 2013). And hey look, I’ve since retired!

Investments only
1/1/13 (The Start): $586,043
1/1/14 (1 Yr Later): $869,635
1/1/15 (2 Yrs Later): $987,351
1/1/16 (3 Yrs Later): $1,057,961
1/1/17 (4 Yrs Later): $1,257,128
1/1/18 (5 Yrs Later): $1,527,701
1/1/19 (6 Yrs Later): $1,549,440
1/1/20 (7 Yrs Later): $2,035,040*
1/1/21 (8 Yrs Later): $3,379,746**

2021: Investments only
1/1: $3,379,746
2/1: $3,616,567
3/1: $3,532,156

Overall
2021 investment gains: $152,410
Investment gains since 1/1/2013: $2,946,113
Net worth***: $3,672,156

* The big jump between 2019 and 2020 was partly because we bought another home, but kept the previous (much more expensive) one as a rental, so now count it as an investment.

** Tesla.

*** Includes our primary home equity in addition to our investment portfolio.

Finally, we still have about $370,000 in mortgage debt (which I love!). No regrets about the debts!

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