Yesterday, we paid off our condo mortgage.

When I phoned the mortgage company to verify the payoff, I got asked (in slow, Oklahoman accent) “yew wanna PAY OFF yer LOAN?” as if I was from Mars (or a fast talker from Texas).

I think it hurt their “feelin’s”.

The guy even tried to give me the 10-day payoff amount (snail mail). “Waaire transfer?”

He was confounded.

We’re weird.

A mortgage is still debt. There is no “good debt” or “bad debt”. There’s just “debt”. And the borrower is slave to the lender and to a job to make those payments. It’s hard to serve 3 masters.

We love to be weird.

What does that feel like?

In a word: free

Free of worry when our jobs are tied to oil price.

Free of feeling powerless and slave to the lender.

Last year, I went to a New Year’s party in which we were to write our wish for 2014. I wrote “have the condo paid off by the end of the year” feeling like it was a long shot.

now what?

Finding Nemo Disney/Pixar

Buy a lot of expensive things to “celebrate”?

No

Focus on paying off our ranch in 2015!