I've managed some time for myself over Labor Day and now have ordered bedroom furniture (although it won't arrive until October). I will have a full apartment and am scared because I know how precarious it can be. This country is not made for anyone but the wealthy, and one job loss, health emergency, etc can put you back years in terms of adulting. 

I think that's what has driven Gen X - fear. We know that the system is not set up to help us, and that while times change, we're stuck in the middle. We came home to empty houses as women went back to the workforce, had the highest divorce rates of our parents, and when we hit the workforce we either clung to what we could get or job-hopped like mad to try to advance.

Now with the lack of pensions we invest, close our eyes, and hope that it all turns out well. It's odd being part of the middle class as it is now and knowing that the majority of people I know would struggle to make a $500 payment if they were ill, and that the trend is not getting better.

We should be better, have universal healthcare, some sort of guaranteed retirement. I just wish we all felt like we can do this - have an apartment, a life, where we're not afraid all of the time.