Way to go, Einstein

The inevitable happened yesterday. When I wasn't looking, the dog (Einstein) ripped a gash of several inches in the largest cushion of our sectional couch.
I'm doing a great job of staying very, very calm about the whole thing. See how steady I'm holding my hand? I haven't dissolved into a screaming fury or wept or done any of the other things I usually do when something is ruined that costs major money that I don't have to fix. Instead, I quietly step back and observe Roxie's life of the past year as if watching it happen to someone else. Psychologists call this "dissociation," I think.
After it happened, I spent some time perched on the arm of the couch, discussing it with Mike in rational, adult tones. The couch was already threadbare on this particular cushion, which could not be turned over. And it was probably seven or eight years old, and nothing lasts forever. And it wasn't my fault because I couldn't be expected to follow the dog around every second.
No angry rants about evil forces beyond my control. Just resigned acceptance. See? I'm learning.
Of course it was tempting to look over at the blank space next to the couch which was once occupied by the recliner that fell apart several years ago. Because we've been trying to live with little debt, we've gone years without replacing that recliner. Same with the minivan, which was hauled off to the Salvation Army when it could no longer be repaired for reasonable money. Living with one car has been a challenge, but we've managed.
But still, I can't help wondering whether trying to reduce debt has been such a great idea, given the circumstances we're now in.
Even before Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, we were big believers in keeping our debt to a minimum. So while others lived it up, we went without a lot of things, and put off repairs. We did borrow for certain things: The house, the car, medical care for the dog, college. But except for vacations, which we repaid ourselves within a year, that was it.
We thought we were building a secure life for ourselves. But now that the recession has cut our income by a devastating amount, we find ourselves with a lot of big-ticket items on their last legs and no resources to repair or replace them.
I can't help wondering if we--and others like us--would have been better off if we'd just gone into debt and bought a new car or stove or couch that would last us through these bad times. We'd have the payments, sure, but there would have been hope of negotiating lower payments, or simply paying the minimum for a while until things get better.
Oh, well. Probably not. I've never been the type to gamble and anyway, it would take a huge personality shift for me to gamble my daughter's college on the hope of things getting better.
Guess I'm just not that much of an optimist.