First day of Spring in 2022!
It’s been a very long winter & a very, very, very long
year, so far!
2022 began with my stove’s motherboard suffering a
catastrophic failure, just as we were ready to bake pizzas! Less than 24 hours
later I suffered an allergic reaction that took nearly a week to get under
control. (Note to Self: Always read all ingredients; even when buying from a “safe”
bakery!) As the allergy symptoms were fading, symptoms of what was probably a
covid infection began. The rest of January was spent being ill and then
recovering. As all four of us (3 daughters & myself) ended up ill & 2
tested positive for the virus, it had a serious impact on anticipated income.
When you are paid by the hour or by the job and are unable to work due to all
the restrictions related to this particular virus it seriously hinders your
ability to pay bills and buy food! Now that it’s 2022, almost all of the
financial resources available during the first year of this pandemic are gone.
As difficult as it was, we all survived January, feeling like February would be
better.
For a day or two, February seemed to be a better month. It
did at least begin a little better. One daughter was able to get hired on at a
daycare center that would happily work around her college schedule. The other
two finally got negative tests for the virus and could return to work. That
wasn’t quite as smooth as expected. For one, viral infections at her workplace
ended up at times closing the store – so no work; or putting my girl on a 5-day
quarantine because someone on one of her shifts has tested positive for the
virus! And the other one had a few jobs cancel because someone in their home
now had the virus! Then the 3rd one, who was hired on at the daycare
and was waiting final confirmation of the job along with her first day of work
& schedule for the remaining days that week, opened a message one morning
saying she was expected at work in about 1 hour! The manager thought she’d sent
an email several days earlier about this. It was later discovered that she
forgot to attach the document with all that information. To add to that first
week of work, her car died! At first, we had hope it was something simple &
repairable. It ended up be total engine failure! So now we’ve spent all of
February using one car to get all 4 of us to various jobs & classes, in
addition to healthcare appointments and routine errands & shopping needs.
We took this one car in for a routine oil change and discovered it would need
the brakes worked on within the next 4 weeks or so, the sooner the better.
Meanwhile, we’re all (along with many other family members & friends) in
search of a 2nd car again. One that will fit our extremely tight
budget! February came to a close with all of us feeling much more stressed
& beginning to show signs of reaching our collective & individual
breaking points!
So, March simply has to be better! Right?
Well, it’s the 20th (already) and so far; NO!
March is not any better than the first two months of 2022!
We are all stressed in every possible direction life takes!
Efforts to find an affordable 2nd car are proving
to be very near to impossible! A few “near misses” have provided a slim, sliver
of hope that is ultimately dashed. Still searching!
Finances are stretched more than they’ve ever been in the
last decade! In the last five years, even!
Landlord tells me my 4-year-old stove is toast! It’s not
possible to replace the fried motherboard, so it’s not coming back. I will just
have to make-do with the very old stove they brought in (to use until the newer
one was repaired – the one that different circuit boards got fried 2 times
prior to the motherboard going out) as it’s not very likely that they will be
buying any new stoves anytime soon.
And for each of us, various health issues are getting worse
again and it has each of us wondering just how much more can we take?
Spring is often a time of new beginnings!
Beginning today I am changing how I begin & end each
day! I am taking steps to directly improve how I’m feeling, mentally &
physically. The plan is to work harder on MY own person and allow that to
spread outwardly to my daughters. As I write this I am filled with doubts in my
own abilities. At the same time, I am full of hope, filled with an enormous
desire, and very much consumed with the idea that (as with past extreme
challenges) I will find the right path to bring the 4 of us to a better place
in the next 11 days!
This will be challenging; perhaps the most challenging
course of action I’ve taken in at least two decades! My intention is to journal
about it daily. A daily recall of what I’ve accomplished will be my own sort of
accountability. It could also be a way to track those things I’m changing that
haven’t been habits before now.
Two years of pandemic restrictions have put a wall of
isolation around many of us. I know I haven’t kept in touch with as many people
as I would have liked; people that I used to have very frequent interactions
with, some even daily. Now would be a good time to reconnect! Many are here
online in various ways. My hope in sharing this is to get & give support in
dealing with life’s challenges. We all have them!
May we all have HAPPY SPRINGTIME BEGINNINGS!
