{"id":16459,"date":"2021-08-11T00:04:03","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T00:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=16459"},"modified":"2021-08-10T20:05:35","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T20:05:35","slug":"where-the-elite-meet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/11\/where-the-elite-meet\/","title":{"rendered":"Where The Elite Meet"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JoEllen Collins<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
JoEllen Collins\u2014a longtime resident of the Wood River Valley\u2014is a teacher, writer, fabric artist, choir member and unabashedly proud grandma known as \u201cBibi Jo.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I <\/span>often smile (even from under a mask) when I see one of my friends at the market or post office and then utter the words recorded in the above title. Usually, we follow that with a wave or \u201chello\u201d and still keep a wise distance. When I say \u201celite,\u201d I am being wry or facetious, not really labeling anyone I encounter. I really mean \u201cspecial.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The other day, in line at the Ketchum post office, I said this to a teaching friend I had not met in nearly a year and a half. One woman turned around and said, \u201cOh, so only the rich come here?\u201d I assumed she was kidding, as well, so I replied, thinking I was being funny, \u201cYes\u2014only the rich in spirit. Our chauffeurs took the day off.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Later, I read comments concerning the latest fear of evictions and the conflict between some landlords and those facing homelessness. I remembered that I once was jealous of some of the very wealthy people who live amongst us. Lately, though, in thinking about the pros and cons of my tenure on this earth, I am happy to say that I no longer resent the very successful people I know. I just wish that more struggling folks could have some of the comfort money can buy, like the BIG obstacle facing so many\u2014affordable housing. Resentment doesn\u2019t change anything.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my musings, I faced the reality that some of my choices could have led to a measure of wealth. However, I chose to take a teaching job instead of pushing harder on my search to be involved in early cable TV in Los Angeles. I chose to invest my modest savings, failing to obtain a license for a radio station so many years ago. I chose to leave a gorgeous home with a view of the Pacific sunsets because I was lonely and miserable even in those glorious surroundings. I chose to leave a lucrative teaching job and the resultant retirement at Beverly Hills High School to move here and, at one time, work three part-time jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n

I could have stayed in an unhappy marriage or perhaps remarried for money. I could have risked some real financial stress, though temporary, when one of the television executives interviewing me said, \u201cYou\u2019ve ONLY been a teacher,\u201d by persevering and convincing him and others that that kind of public-school interaction with about 150 or more teenagers a day taught this storyteller how to budget time, think on one\u2019s feet, be creative with a captive audience, and deal with the widest variety of humans imaginable.<\/span><\/p>\n

I loved teaching, so I don\u2019t regret that I\u2019m not in a bigger residence to manage, that I have friends of all incomes, and that I don\u2019t need to kowtow to be on someone\u2019s guest list. I am content.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, my fellow less-than rich, let\u2019s keep on being grateful for what we do have and the wonderful people around us, whatever their financial status may be.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By JoEllen Collins I often smile (even from under a mask) when I see one of my friends at the market or post office and then utter the words recorded in the above title. Usually, we follow that with a wave or \u201chello\u201d and still keep a wise distance. When I say \u201celite,\u201d I am […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commentary","8":"category-on-lifes-terms"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16462,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16459\/revisions\/16462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}