The new year and what am I doing? I am sitting up alone at midnight writing a post. I suppose that with a New Year, comes new challenges, and likewise-benefits. This past year hasn't been so terrible. No sick kids, no lay-offs or bizarre illnesses/lawsuits. And so- it has been a pretty good year. If you ask Chris...well, don't ask him. He's a real downer. And why shouldn't he be? By the time his grandfather was his age he had a house, a retirement, and was a war veteran. Nowadays, things don't happen so matter-of-factly. Things don't occur in such a linear fashion. Goals and aspirations get put on hold, and dreams die. This is all very depressing, but quite true. These are the days where whatever that "American Dream" held for our generation is not transpiring in the manner in which it should. Yes- people still have their aspirations realized, but more often than not this generation is looking at 2nd and 3rd careers, as well as still living with parents or returning after mortgages have been lost and home have been foreclosed. I picked teaching as my career because I wanted something I could count on. "you'll always have a job!" is what I heard, along with "not great pay, but great benefits..". I have learned that this is not necessarily true. So...who's to blame? The government? Big business? Me? I think so, but I do have some joys that are not connected to my bleak financial outlook.
Reasons to be happy:
1) My kids aren't sick. Oh sure they get colds, etc, but they don't have some rare disease or cancer. For this I am grateful. There are others not quite so lucky, and I feel for their suffering each time I am reminded.
2) My kids are alive and so are my husband and I. Death is not always foreseen. Things don't add up, people are careless, there are such things as "silent killers", and we have avoided all of it.
3) My husband is a good man and a great husband/father. There are men out there that do not love their families, that abuse their wives, that mistreat and take for granted all those that surround them, but Chris is not one of them. He comes home after being yelled at all day at work, and scoops up each of those kids for big hugs and kisses and me, too. He folds and cleans, and let's me go out on midnight runs to Walmart for milk and for a moment of peace. I am lucky.
4) I have a home, a job, and working cars. Our van did have a major breakdown this year, but thank goodness we have credit otherwise we would be squeezing everyone into that other little car we have. There are others that just do without.
5) I have no major illnesses- that I know of. Ok so I don't have insurance, but I really think I am not harboring any catastrophic junk inside my body. At least- I hope. :)
6) I only have 1 white hair. This is my vanity talking, but I just have this one hair that I pull and it grows back in the same spot. Yup- just one. I think that's pretty lucky at my age.
There are others, but although my life is not perfect-I could use a few grand here or there for stuff- I actually have not always had enough to cover expenses this last year, and it would be awesome to not be in debt or have to think "can I afford this tank of gas?", but that is so small and trivial and will some day go away. I will not always have the luxury of only worrying about financial problems. These are problems that can be solved through extra work, and being more frugal (not always but ideally). There will be a time when the things I worry about have no answer, cannot be so easily resolved and/or involve more adverse predicaments. And so on this the first day of 2013, I am happy and truly lucky and blessed. And I hope that this next year is just as bright.
