Sicily Kolbeck built her dream home, lost her best friend in the midst of building, and gave a TED Talk. How old is she? 13. What did she learn? Many lessons about construction but even more about life, loving, losing, and living on.
Her story really touches my heart. I was 13 when I built a lake home with my dad, who was my best friend, too. I miss and think of him every day. I know if he was still here, I never ever would have purchased in an HOA.
OK Bunkie, I realize you haven’t always been tight with your old Gramps. I realize we’ve had some differences, and sometimes you just thought I wasn’t very smart in the ways of the world. Sometimes I’m wrong, I admit it. But sometimes you’re wrong and you should admit it.
So, Bunkie, pull your chair up real close and listen even if this is that last time I ever get to try to share some wisdom with you.
Remember when you said that buying your own place was the best investment you could ever make? Remember when I tried to talk you out of it? You said you’d take your grandma in as a roommate to help you pay expenses?
Don’t you just hate it when an HOA or condo board shows its arrogance by taking aim at a desperately handicapped person and rubbing her face in her own personal tragedy? There are no words strong enough to quell my anger when an HOA bitch-slaps a disabled person. “Gee whiz, sorry you’re so disabled. Maybe you should just go live downtown.” Those are the exact words used by my own HOA president when my wife was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a number of years ago. That was long before such comments were legally actionable under federal law.
OK, some straight talk, here. We have a ton of people coming to this website. Those people are reading an average of 250,000 to 300,000 pages of our material each month. BUT THAT DOESN’T CUT IT!
Those of you who’ve read my book, Neighbors At War, know that it has a tremendous amount of important material that never makes it onto this website. You also know that my book is important for all homeowners, inside and outside of Homeowners Associations. (It’s also a fun read!) I happen to know that a lot of libraries carry my book and it’s frequently loaned to other libraries across the country. That’s pretty good traction. I know, however, that I haven’t sold my book to all of you yet.
