Another year older…..
…and yup, deeper in debt.
This has been an interesting year. So much so that I don’t even know where to start. So I’ll break my hard and fast rule and post bullet-points:
My accomplishments for the 2008-2009 model year:
Down-Notes:
- Watching the banks melt down.
- Watching my own personal finances melt down.
- Blaming the former for the latter.
- Being told by a bankrupt car company that *MY* credit isn’t good enough.
Up-Notes:
- Seeing Panic start Kindergarten and excel into it like Autism was just another word.
- Seeing Chaos make his first “letters-to-reading” connection. (“Mom! Spongebob starts with “S” right?”)
- Seeing Disorder’s soccer team make the playoffs.
- New job started in February. I love consulting in a dysfunctional environment. It’s at least a secure position. (knock-on-wood – the only real wood in this house I think)
So this is the time of year (and the year of life) where you start looking back on your left and trying to figure out what you’ve done and where you’re going.
At 39 you can safely say you’ve almost got as many years behind you as you do ahead of you. You are supposed to have learned enough to manipulate your future, (I can’t) to control the way it’s going to turn out, (I haven’t) and to plan for the future. (I’m not)
At 39 you should be looking forward to retirement. Retirement is something I can’t even begin to conceptualize, true relaxation being such an alien concept.
At 39 I’m rebuilding. I can’t even tell you how it started, but I can tell you my situation has been set back 10 years by the current financial situation.
But I have more than I did 10 years ago, so it’s still forward progress right? I have three wonderful kids, a wife I love more today than I have since the day we met (1983 folks.) I have a home, I have a job that (again, knock on wood) isn’t going away any time soon, and suddenly, unexpectedly, I’m finding I have my health…
And I have to get things back on track. This is the year to do it I guess. It’s T minus 5 years and counting until the first one hits college.
I ain’t getting any younger.
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Could this birthday post be… a tiny bit… optimistic?? (GASP!)
I’m loving it! Happy belated birthday!
Yeah, appreciate to 40 ish…and Happy Birthday!!!!!…and yes, things will get better….in time…. and DO get better WITH time…. We hope.
I’ve heard 39 is the new 20. So I think that means you are supposed to go out, have the time of your life, and wake up the next morning and not remember how you got home.
Happy Birthday to one cool old man.
(And if I have to tell you I’m kidding, then you REALLY don’t know me, do you?!)
McMommy´s last blog post..Sour grapes.
Hey, join the club. Like you, I feel further behind than 10 years ago, mainly due to the crushing loss of value of our house. Making that move we want to make? Impossible. But when you look at all the positives you mentioned (despite the ability to control/plan, which I also lack), you’re doing pretty freakin’ great. We all struggle, but we keep our heads down and keep going, and enjoy the rewards whenever they appear.
And if you even hint that 40 is old and/or scary, I shall smite you!
Lori´s last blog post..Fame, But No Fortune