One wonderful thing about my marriage is that we have been through some incredible stresses and strains. Lay-offs, serious and chronic illness, cross-country moves, ownership of 3 homes, renovations, family dramas, a child, 5 international jobs, a bunch of degrees, and the nation’s most major natural disaster. All in under 6 years. We figure that with our history of working through these things, the current questions we face are no match for our ability to work together. Still, we are pretty stressed out.
Balls we have in the air:
– We have a very long and detailed punch-list of things to do to fix up the house for market.
– We have no current daycare for Will.
– I need to be in NOLA to work on my prospectus (the writing and research of which cannot happen without the daycare situation worked out).
– As of the first week of April, I have weekly appointments with our midwife in Pensacola (3-4 hours drive from New Orleans).
– We are putting our house on the market sometime between April 1st and May 1st.
– We have a friend living with us until classes end in late April.
– Paul needs to continue to work 40 hours a week, each week, while juggling appointments, the no daycare situation, and home repairs.
– Valerie, my committee member based on Lima, will be in-country in mid-May, so this is the perfect time to present the prospectus… which means I have a ticking timeline that I cannot even start to address until we figure out a daycare arrangement.
– The baby is due May 5th.
– We have no firm plans on where we are going after selling the house, what we are doing with our stuff, or generally what we are going to do. (We are leaning towards a maintainence-free condo in a planned community somewhere, but would need to find somewhere very, very affordable since we need to save our pennies for rent in Lima.)
Just writing all of these things down is giving me indigestion. We know we will be okay and start to figure things out and certainly we’re working on it (I’ve got some daycare leads and have been working on house stuff each day) but there are still so many unanswered questions!
Anyone have a really good magic 8 ball???
Violet | 03-Mar-06 at 5:54 am | Permalink
No magic 8 ball, but after 32 years of navigating very similar chaos, and surviving, I just wanted to offer a word of encouragement–you will work it all out. You both have a high degree of trust and respect for one another; that’s all you really need. And good problem-solving skills, of course.
eli | 03-Mar-06 at 7:21 am | Permalink
I too have no magic 8 ball, however if you figure this one out, something else will require you to figure it out and get through.
If nothing else you are some serious inspiration to me!
Wish I could be there to offer some immediate assistance.
Hugs!