It was the year the gas prices went up
to stay
It was the year we wrote letters to
the editor and to Congress and
complained to everyone in sight
because we could afford that
It was the year rates of interest caught
our interest
It was the year we were all advised
to save our nest eggs by
brooding at home on vacation
and burning our credit cards
It was the year the market for everything
tumbled
That was the year the contractors’ wives who
had been going along to get along, saying, “Yes,
Dear," over and over, began wondering,
what would life be like without the beatings?
It was the year of sea change made
irreversible
It was the year Joan got a job and Mary
went to Cabo and nearly didn’t
come back and Marsha decided maybe
enough, was; and those years became five
It was the year divorce papers got filed but
not signed
It was the year someone threw out the concealer
stick, and some assets were hidden, projects
were skimped on, and lawyers hired and fired, and
the year the last big fight over who gets what began
It was the year we made friends with uncertainty
and fear
