Mrs Twigg and I are the eponymous "Ordinary People".
We both work fulltime at skilled and necessary jobs. We have a modest home in a cheap state, a home we have been fighting Bank of America over for six years, but that's another story.
We have three school-age children who do ordinary stuff. They get straight "A"s, they play soccer and do well in things like Band. They have regular social lives and we don't have vacations. Well not many.
We have two cars and one motorcycle, the newest vehicle is the motorcycle, a 2005. We are not extravagant in the vehicle department.
Our monthly incomes are modest. Mrs Twigg is a High School teacher and I am a Paraprofessional with a specialism in Emotionally Disturbed children. As I said, they are jobs worth doing and we try to do them well.
Today we both were paid. Mrs Twigg about three times more than me, and for me it was my first "regular" paycheck and I now have Health Insurance for the first time in ten years.
So today I was able to switch our cell phones and internet back on.
Today I was able to switch our lives back on .... at least until this time next month when again we are likely to be worrying if we have enough gas in the tanks to make it to pay day.
This is life for a family in the Heartland; for a hard-working family. This is normal life, we are not unusual and we do not complain about it.
This is America, and we are Ordinary People.