Is it August 25? I can't seem to keep track these days. I do know it's Thursday and I do know that I've had four glorious evenings off work, yet I must return back to the grind tomorrow.
As much as I hate the hours, the grind, and the toll that it takes on me both mentally and physically, I am thankful that I am fortunate enough to have a second job that helps me keep my head above water. Some people aren't lucky enough to have a job at all. I have less than 2 months left before the credit card bills are DONE. After that, we save for visa and green card paperwork, a wedding and a future in which I may be the sole source of income for a two-person household for who knows how long. And perhaps there are opportunities down the road that will allow me to ditch the second income and be back to making a single one that's enough for me to get by on the lifestyle I am used to living.
Each day I try to remind myself that I have many things to be thankful for even though it might not always be the best of days. Today I am truly thankful for having four straight nights of freedom, not having to rush home from work, shovel down dinner, change clothes and head to the mall.
I am also thankful for the honest conversations I can have with William. Our relationship has blossomed despite the fact that we're 8,000 miles apart and it's been almost all over the phone. Sometimes I think that's been the best way - none of those outside pressures that can cloud your judgment or interfere and mess with your head. We had a great conversation just the other day about how watching the people around us that we know and love and how they interact/don't interact with each other can be a tremendous learning lesson for us. We can learn from their experiences, whether they succeed or fail, and apply them to our own relationship and how we treat each other.
I miss my cat. I'm thankful that she is still with me even though she's currently on holiday at Grandma's house. She's 14 years old and you never really know how much longer she's going to be with us. Only a little over a week and then I can go retrieve her from her Gram, as long as she cooperates and doesn't camp out under the bed like she did the last time -- thus the reason she's still at Gram's. I only have so much patience :-).
I am thankful for opportunities, whether they are ones I've already had or ones that are yet to come. One never knows what the future holds and sometimes you just need to sit back, learn from your past mistakes, be patient and see what happens. Although it isn't always as easy as it sounds, sometimes you just need to pay your dues, keep your fingers crossed and toss out a few prayers.
Until the next time ....
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
It's Complicated
I've seen a lot of people I know recently change their relationship status on Facebook to It's Complicated over the past few weeks, and sadly I can see a few more coming. I certainly am not going to judge - most of them I don't know well enough or know their significant other at all to have any opinion on their situations. But it makes me feel fortunate that even dispite the limbo I currently live in, I have someone - my significant other - that's complicated but not "this isn't working" complicated.
We had a nice chat today about feeling like we're in school when we watch other people's relationships - learning from both their successes and their failures and the lessons we can take away from it. We certainly have a challenge ahead of us with him uprooting is entire life and moving 8,000 miles away from everything that he's ever known, and me having lived with no one other than my cat for the past 14 years. But I look forward to the days where we can do the fun things like all the stuff I don't do now because I'd have to do them by myself (I'd love to take a cooking class), or all the mundane things that I get tired of doing by myself (grocery shopping). I know that we have our skeptics out there - that we're both too set in our ways and there are too many cultural differences that will be too much of a battle. And those skeptics are sometimes none too shy in voicing their thoughts. But all we can do is plug our way through the hard times, keep the lines of communication as open as we possibly can, and remember all of the struggling we've had to do to even get to that point. A wise woman that I admire told me recently "through adversity comes strength." I'm holding her to that one because we've already had more than our fair share of adversity. I can only hope that means that once we finally get this thing where we want it to be, we will be the most rock-solid couple you've ever met and it will never become "It's complicated."
We had a nice chat today about feeling like we're in school when we watch other people's relationships - learning from both their successes and their failures and the lessons we can take away from it. We certainly have a challenge ahead of us with him uprooting is entire life and moving 8,000 miles away from everything that he's ever known, and me having lived with no one other than my cat for the past 14 years. But I look forward to the days where we can do the fun things like all the stuff I don't do now because I'd have to do them by myself (I'd love to take a cooking class), or all the mundane things that I get tired of doing by myself (grocery shopping). I know that we have our skeptics out there - that we're both too set in our ways and there are too many cultural differences that will be too much of a battle. And those skeptics are sometimes none too shy in voicing their thoughts. But all we can do is plug our way through the hard times, keep the lines of communication as open as we possibly can, and remember all of the struggling we've had to do to even get to that point. A wise woman that I admire told me recently "through adversity comes strength." I'm holding her to that one because we've already had more than our fair share of adversity. I can only hope that means that once we finally get this thing where we want it to be, we will be the most rock-solid couple you've ever met and it will never become "It's complicated."
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
I hate being sick
It sucks. Especially when I have four million things to do, not enough time to do them as it is, and no time to rest. But I know that sometimes it is just my body's way of telling me that I need to slow down a bit and since I won't do it myself, it will do it for me.
Today I am very thankful to have William in my life. It's hard because we haven't seen each other in well over a year, and we don't get to talk to each other nearly as much as we would like. But the benefit to that is that when we do get to talk to each other, it's a huge pick-me-up that reminds us how lucky we are to have found each other. He works so hard - we both work so hard. And it's hard knowing that so much of our future is outside of our control. But there is nothing we can do but pray and hope and trust.
Today I am very thankful to have William in my life. It's hard because we haven't seen each other in well over a year, and we don't get to talk to each other nearly as much as we would like. But the benefit to that is that when we do get to talk to each other, it's a huge pick-me-up that reminds us how lucky we are to have found each other. He works so hard - we both work so hard. And it's hard knowing that so much of our future is outside of our control. But there is nothing we can do but pray and hope and trust.
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