Member-only story
American Assumptions
And the dismantling of American Exceptionalism
When and where you are born determines many of the assumptions you grow up with. For example, there’s a laundry list of things certain (white) people in the United States take for granted. Like many girls of my generation, I grew up simply assuming that one day I would marry a man, have babies, live in a house that we owned and, of course, we would each have our own car. There would be retirement accounts and yearly vacations as well.
These were not assumptions my parents had growing up even though that’s what they attained as adults. Well, not the retirement accounts bit.
I’m the oldest of four sisters. I’m the only one to — first by chance and now by choice — not follow up on (most of) those assumptions. I did get married. Twice now. But the rest of the package has gone unopened. When I somehow emerged from my two-decades-long brown-out without having subjected an innocent to life with me as a mother I heaved a huge sigh of relief and got my backside to a lady doctor toot sweet. The Pill, please, and make it snappy.
As to owning a home or property of any kind, yeah, that’s a hard pass. Clearly, it seems to work for many people and there’s a built-in belief in this country that owning property is what one does to ensure stability and build equity.
