Broke……

Interesting word. The obvious: ain’t gots no money. Victor, that’s a double negative, kinda-sorta. Sorry, when in the position of being broke, linguistic rules go out the window.

He broke his arm. She broke her finger playing volleyball. The child was crying because his toy broke. He broke in the horse. As day broke….

Hard up. Lacking funds. Bankrupt. Being currently (but not necessarily permanently) out of money. Break a leg. Go for broke. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

I Googled broke. Then ‘broke stories’. Twas a religious site – and they’d had a contest urging folks to share their broke stories. Winner – family of hubby/wife-4 snotnoses, hubby found a great job… life was good.. a year later, the company lost all their government contracts… soon jobless..

A bit later, homeless.. no family close, urged kids to go live with grandparents temporarily.. didn’t’ wanna.. With a loan from mama’s mama, they purchased a 3 room tent, camping gear – and made a life of it at a Park --- $23 a night.. .

Soon this too became too expensive – so – found new campground at eleven bucks a night. “Yes, we were homeless, but we swam, barbecued, nature walked, and enjoyed the peacefulness of being together the entire 45 days we were there. I have to admit that we haven’t been camping since, but we talk about it fondly even now.”

Broke. Broke wind. Brokeback Mountain. Ewww. I will be cursed to hear Ned Beatty’s squeal until the day I buy the farm whenever spooky stuff like that surfaces.

Email from lady on an online dating website. I hope she won’t shoot me for quoting.. “I've been married twice also, but don't regret getting divorced. I wouldn't want to be married to either one of them today. Not that I have anything against marriage. I always thought I would marry a great guy. We would work hard to build a life and love and care for each other. I however, have a ‘broken picker’ and have always in the past picked out a really bad match for myself.”

A ‘broken picker’. I loved that. In some respects, I think I do too. Sure, takes two to tango – and I know there’s certainly fault from Mr. Victor on past marriages being ‘broken’. But.. dadburnit, when I say “till death do us part” I do mean it. Never broke that one.

Sister had a broken picker. Biased, but, onea the most wonderful, radiant, fun, attractive gals you ever laid eyes on. Bad picker. Broken.

Break. Break away. Break down. Break in. Break off. Break out. Break through. Break up. Broken. Heart broken. Broken arrow. Broke a sweat. Tom Brokow. Broke bread. Broke camp.

Victor, I feel another story coming about when you carried mail in the poorest, brokest portion of Kansas City. Yeah, mebbe. Like the homeless campers, broke doesn’t have to mean unhappy. Weeks – walked past this home.. very, very obviously poor family. Two senior citizens. Frequently sitting on the porch. Tattered clothing. Permanent smiles. Happiness. Didn’t have two pennies to rub together. Broke. Starta spring – walking by one day – lady tapped me on shoulder.. Handed me an entire flat of plants they’d started. “For me?”.. “YES!” she said merrily. Nice. Broke, but happy.

That’s it. Done. Finito. Silence broken, but story over. Enjoy the day. Hope you ain’t broke – but.. if u are, (I know ya know) you can be happy. No funny endings, sorry. Other stuff broke my train of thought. Ah St. Patty’s day upcoming. YEAH! My beloved mother’s birthday. Fun. Those were fun days. Spring. Green. Broke – still.. life’s a blast. Happy happy, love Victurd.