I am so over 2014
Rotten year for my family. It was even harder on Andy than it was on me -- his father, aunt, and uncle all died and his mom had repeated health crises and had to move into assisted living, and he had to deal with all of it while living a 12-hour drive away, because even though she now only has one sister living in Michigan, his mother still refuses to move here to Illinois.
Not a great year for me, though. I had two months of spectacularly good health, two months of unremarkable health, and eight months of mysterious illness. I have found a new doctor and have appointments scheduled with various specialists in January. The kids are getting older and I'd like to either move on to a full-time job or go back to grad school for another masters so that I can be licensed as a counselor (because my existing PhD in psychology is in the wrong subdiscipline), but I don't want to make any decisions until I have a better idea of what's going on and if I'm ever going to get better. I feel like all the dreams I ever had for my life have withered away, and all I'm left with is one very basic, reasonable hope: I want to find a job helping people that will pay enough that my kids can go to college and Andy and I can someday retire. Is that really so much to ask? (Theoretically Andy will have a generous pension when he retires, but the Illinois state pension plans are by some measures the most underfunded in the entire nation. But hey, he has tenure, as long as he keeps teaching his classes he can just work until he dies. Oh, am I being negative? It was that kind of year.)
We drove home from Michigan today, and we received what I hope is a good sign for 2015: Andy loved White Castle burgers as a kid, and whenever we travel and see a White Castle (there are none in our region) he gets all misty-eyed and nostalgic and wishes that they would offer a veggie burger. We stopped at a gas station in Indiana this afternoon, and as he's pumping gas I see the sign on the White Castle next door: VEGGIE SLIDERS LIMITED TIME ONLY. Oh yes he bought some. He approves.
So there's one long-cherished dream come true. What else will 2015 bring?
Happy New Year to you all!
This entry was originally posted at http://loligo.dreamwidth.org/451738.html.
comments on that entry. Comments on Dreamwidth preferred.
Not a great year for me, though. I had two months of spectacularly good health, two months of unremarkable health, and eight months of mysterious illness. I have found a new doctor and have appointments scheduled with various specialists in January. The kids are getting older and I'd like to either move on to a full-time job or go back to grad school for another masters so that I can be licensed as a counselor (because my existing PhD in psychology is in the wrong subdiscipline), but I don't want to make any decisions until I have a better idea of what's going on and if I'm ever going to get better. I feel like all the dreams I ever had for my life have withered away, and all I'm left with is one very basic, reasonable hope: I want to find a job helping people that will pay enough that my kids can go to college and Andy and I can someday retire. Is that really so much to ask? (Theoretically Andy will have a generous pension when he retires, but the Illinois state pension plans are by some measures the most underfunded in the entire nation. But hey, he has tenure, as long as he keeps teaching his classes he can just work until he dies. Oh, am I being negative? It was that kind of year.)
We drove home from Michigan today, and we received what I hope is a good sign for 2015: Andy loved White Castle burgers as a kid, and whenever we travel and see a White Castle (there are none in our region) he gets all misty-eyed and nostalgic and wishes that they would offer a veggie burger. We stopped at a gas station in Indiana this afternoon, and as he's pumping gas I see the sign on the White Castle next door: VEGGIE SLIDERS LIMITED TIME ONLY. Oh yes he bought some. He approves.
So there's one long-cherished dream come true. What else will 2015 bring?
Happy New Year to you all!
This entry was originally posted at http://loligo.dreamwidth.org/451738.html.
comments on that entry. Comments on Dreamwidth preferred.