Evelyn and Jasper’s new condo certainly was small—1,200 square feet. It was on the first floor of a three-story building. They had no garage for their two cars. In fact, they didn’t even have one designated parking space. When Evelyn went grocery shopping, she often had to lug the groceries 100 feet from her car to her condo—sometimes less if she was lucky enough to find a parking spot close to her condo.

Evelyn was on the phone with an old friend in New Mexico. “Now I really appreciate how convenient it was to park in my garage for 20 years and walk directly into the kitchen. Just think how much fun I have now when I’m caught with grocery bags in a rainstorm! And the neighbors. They all have their own friends—we’re outsiders. We go to the community pool regularly, but no one has stopped by to introduce themselves. Whatever happened to southern hospitality? And my sisters? They’re all working! What was the point of moving here if they work all week, and on the weekend they’re usually too tired to go out?

“New Mexico was so much better; I had my own house, yard, and garage. I had a small garden in the back yard. I had a couple of good friends, including you. Here, I still don’t have a job, even though I’ve been willing to take almost anything. Jasper is gone six or seven days a week trying to sell Cadillacs in the middle of farm country. He should be trying to sell tractors! He comes home so tired that he hardly ever goes fishing. He must be kicking himself for being so thoughtful to me.” Her friend told Evelyn to stop being so negative. They'd only been in Georgia a year. Even their first couple of years in New Mexico were rough, she reminded Evelyn.