In 1979, when I graduated high school in June of that year and moved with my parents to the Portland, OR area, then drove across country diagonally to Chattanooga, TN in August to begin college at the Born-Again Christian enclave of Tennessee Temple University, everything I owned needed fit easily into the back of the 1974 Mazda RX-3 wagon I’d bought from my dad for $1,000 worth of work in his painting company. I didn’t even have to put the rear seats down.

How did I possibly survive with no collection of assets? Perhaps, not being weighed down, I focussed on other things; like: observing the world around me, asking questions, discovering the joy of Very Bad Things-so-called, and even engaging in some study now and then to collect grade assets…and maybe, with nothing better to do than thrive by working in fast-food joints and auto-parts stores, paid the lion’s share of the cost of acquiring a college diploma-asset. Eventually.

That stint lasted only a freshman year, and when I returned to Troutdale, OR that late spring, not only did all my assets still fit in the back, but there was room for the stuff of two other guys from the same Born-Again church, sharing the ride and drive.