You see, this talented, award-winning writer recently got married. His wife is our talented page designer at the News/Enterprise office in Saranac Lake — Victoria “Tori” Martinez. They returned to the office on Tuesday, Oct. 18 after a weeks-long honeymoon trip to Italy.

Now that they are husband and wife, they’ve combined their last names into one — Marbone.

Aaron and Tori married on Sept. 30 at Tucker Farms in Gabriels. It was a sunny day, filled with hope for the future of these twentysomethings.

Luckily, they’ve managed to find a place to live in the Tri-Lakes. Meeting in Brockport while working on their college newspaper together, Aaron was the first to arrive in the Adirondacks — in 2017 when he became the Tupper Lake reporter for the Enterprise. Now he covers a wide variety of areas, including the village of Saranac Lake and politics. Tori followed him here in 2019, becoming part of the production staff for both newspapers. They live in Bloomingdale.

We sincerely wish Aaron and Tori the best and hope they enjoy making a happy life here in the Adirondacks together. But it won’t be easy.

As Aaron helps our news team explore the housing crisis in the North Country, we’re afraid there are too many hurdles for others — couples, families and single people — to find housing and move to this remote and exceptionally beautiful corner of the world. As housing costs increase, so does inflation, pushing property owners to raise rents on the few apartments and houses available.

Fuel oil for heating last winter rose so much that it caused a lot of people to make tough decisions about their spending, and the outlook this winter is just as bleak.

When life gets too expensive for people living paycheck to paycheck, they have to decide whether they can afford food or medication, and that can put their lives in danger. Luckily Aaron and Tori are young, but they still have to buy food and other necessities. How will they make ends meet enough to stay here?

For generations, families have been faced with the same challenges, and many have had to work multiple jobs to pay rent and mortgages, heat their homes, afford doctor visits and medications and put food on the table.

Housing is only the beginning of the economic crisis here; affordable living is another problem that local and state leaders need to address so we can keep people — like the Marbones — in the Adirondack Park. Otherwise, we’ll continue to see more families unable to survive here.