Goodbye 2011!!! After a hell of a year, I am happy to see this new year! Before I move forward, I needed to take time to reflect on the last year or so. ALOT has happened.
I typed up a short summary of the last year for my facebook page and as I was typing, I realised that it's a miracle that the hubby and I ever made it through last year. In brief, we moved from Vermont (oh how I miss it) to Southern California.... more specifically, to the high desert of SoCal.... A true wasteland in some senses of the word. We moved in with my in laws. Now, a word on this decision. My father in law had a stroke about a month before we decided to move to SoCal. My hubby, who is wonderful as previously mentioned, had a rough history with his dad and stepmother and had been working on putting it back together from VT. He decided that if something else happened to his dad and he had not tried his hardest to repair the relationship, that he would regret it come Game Over (He thinks in gamer terms.... someday I'll try to post an entry on his philosophy of life and death in gamers terms.... it's fascinating!). So long story short, too late, we moved here. And just in case you were wondering, my father in law has made a complete recovery physically, mentally, he fights depression and anger on a regular basis.
SO we arrived in SoCal, moved in with my in laws, and looked for jobs. This was disheartening and stressful. I finally found a job, and a new friend. First week of the new job, on the morning I had been invited over for breakfast by the new friend and her guy, I step into a hole in the parking lot and break my foot... and did I mention that new job was one where I stood for 12 hour shifts and had to walk about 5 miles a day in the store alone?? I pushed through it and kept working. Then about a month later, the hubby decides to have a ruptured appendix and have emergency surgery. I was sure my boss was going to fire me... but he didn't and it was all OK. The hubby is fine now but, as per the doctor, we waited so long to get him to the hospital due to no health care coverage, 12 more hours and I would have been a widow. He's fine now and snoring on the sofa nearby as I type. I relish every snore.... that means I still have him.
So we made it through the physical ailments! Things were chaotic but OK for about a month. The hubby was still looking for work. I was developing a hatred for my job as I realised that I didn't want to be in a sales environment ever again. I'm not pushy or manipulative enough for that job. And within about a month, things in our living situation went from OK to bad to worse. 6 additional people moved into the house. If you've lost count, that's now 10 people under one roof! We "became" a burden. Translation, we couldn't afford to pay as much as the new people, even though we did more around the house to keep it running smoothly. We were unceremoniously thrown out at the end of April with no explanation and no warning. With no place to go, no money, the hubby with no job, a house on the market across the country like an albatross around our necks and a battered and bruised soul, I gave up. I cried harder than I ever knew was possible. I felt my soul tear. I understand what wailing truly is now. For the first time in my life, I truly wanted to give up.
As I had made the decision to pack up my hubby, my animals and my pride and tuck my tail between my legs and move back to Georgia and in with MY parents, my cell phone rang and it was my husband telling me that he got the job he had been waiting to hear from for over a month. I couldn't walk away from that. Another new friend of mine had a house (that she has subsequently lost to foreclosure) and offered us a room for no rent to give us a chance to get on our feet. She knew that the house was being foreclosed on but offered us space as long as we needed it and as long as she still had the house. The next day, we got an offer on our house in VT. The next day, we had a closing date and the next we moved out of my in laws. We haven't spoken to them since.
Things again, went smoothly for about a month. Then, due to the sagging sales market and the unstable economy, I lost my job. That lead to the loss of direction and the creation of this blog... As you know from the other posts, that's when I decided to go back to school.
That has been a great decision! I love what I'm working on. I'm excited for the next chapter. It's still gonna be tough for a while as we are living on one income but, this time next year, I hope to be able to look back over 2012 and know that we're in a better place and that we had to go through everything we went through in order to get us to where we are now. I hope to be employed helping people in a healing way. I hope my hubby is happy at his job. I hope that we can become financially stable enough to not worry every month. I hope that we are both healthy. I hope that I can get to visit my family this year. I hope that I can not take for granted the blessings I receive. I hope that my loved ones, both friends and family, are all safe, happy, healthy and loved. Please know, for anyone who might read this, I love you! And thank you for giving of your time and energy to read my ramshackle thoughts.... 2011, out!
