Financial crisis hits home

I went to my neighborhood branch of my bank and it was no longer there. The walls and windows were there but the building was completely empty.  The place where the ATM had been was covered with a piece of plywood. There was no sign saying they branch had moved. I had been using this bank for many years and now it was gone. Immediately I jumped to asking what I could have done to avoid this shock. The fact is this could have been my own misunderstanding of the bank’s reorganization plans. Perhaps I missed the memo. But for the first time and in a very emotional and gut-wrenching manner, the effects of the current financial crisis hit home for me.