Keeping up Appearances

Image by David Mark from Pixabay

Regan quite enjoyed living in her mansion. Everyone had said she’d never amount to anything, but here she was, living the life!

Of course, it wasn’t really her mansion. She had no idea who had originally lived here. Maybe some Wall Street tycoon who had gone bust. Or maybe a movie icon whose star had faded along with their fortune. Honestly, she didn’t much care. Their loss, her gain.

She had counted the rooms once, trailing through the palatial house. There were forty of them. Who needed forty rooms? Or three pools, for that matter? She didn’t need them, but she enjoyed being able to say she had them.

Looking at the contents of her fridge, Regan realized she desperately needed groceries. She checked her bank account, which contained seven dollars and thirty-one cents. Grabbing her guitar, she headed for her barely running Toyota, hoping she had enough gas to make it downtown and that no one else would find her squat while she was gone. If she wanted to eat tonight, she was going to have to busk.

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I was thinking about how people present themselves on social media and how often the image doesn’t match reality. Social media isn’t the only place that happens, though. Too much of our time is spent trying to appear better off than we are. We do this in all aspects of our lives. Sometimes that goes to extremes. Maybe, if Regan didn’t care so much about appearances, she might focus more on actually making her life better.