He had said it in front of his parents.

In 2023 he had said it at a dinner with friends, in the specific tone men use about a financial arrangement they are pleased with, and I had let it be said about me: Val handles the day-to-day and I attack the principal.

The mortgage balance in February 2025 was $291,400.

The mortgage balance in February 2022 was $304,900.

Thirteen thousand five hundred dollars in three years, on a loan on which the scheduled amortization alone should have taken it down about forty-one.

Which meant that not only had he not been attacking the principal — he had not consistently been making the payment.