Perspective

I had a bit of an epiphany over Thanksgiving.

As I sat in my sister's house with a table full of amazing food, I felt a little sorry for myself. First, my sweet husband was by himself that day (enjoying casino food, no less). I am sick of spending holidays alone! Plus, the fact that our house in Kentucky is still for sale has been a MAJOR sore spot for me. I have been a little obsessed with frustration about it lately. We are squished into a small rental house while continuing to pay for our sprawling lake house--which has a brand new kitchen, new carpet, and the smell of fresh paint. I HATE how much money we continue to dump into that house--the mortgage, the lawn guy, the cleaning lady, the bills of all the updates we did right at the end.... POOR ME!!! WAAAAAA!

And then I realized what an idiot I am. As I sat there at the Thanksgiving table with my adorable sister (only a couple hours drive away!!!) and watched my kids thrill at having cousins to play with, I thought back to last Thanksgiving.

Last Thanksgiving was a bad time in our lives. We had just ripped apart our kitchen for a major remodel. Our house was a complete disaster. I was suddenly transported back to standing in the cold, dark corner of our living room cooking over a little butane gas burner, eating one dish dinners from paper plates and plastic spoons, being hugely pregnant, and realizing that we were totally screwed. Keith hated his job. We had only recently come to the realization that we needed to find a new job for him by the time his contract expired in summer. Last Thanksgiving, we had just sent off a resume to a practice near Lake Tahoe and every night we prayed so hard that they would call Keith. The thought of putting our house back together in order to sell it, have a baby, find a job, move to who-knows-where, all within the next couple of months was so unbearably miserable. Life SUCKED.

Fast forward a year...

I have a beautiful, healthy baby and a happy family. Keith LOVES his job. Of all the jobs we were considering last Thanksgiving, this is the one that he wanted the most. A total dream job. We live barely 20 minutes from the beach! We go hiking, biking, climbing, and we can drive to see family in just a couple hours! He has a lot of respect for the people he works with and feels challenged and happy to go to work everyday. Today we are living the dream that last year we totally ached for.

So what if my house is still for sale? So what if we are cramped into a small house? I don't care if my house doesn't sell for 5 more years. I don't care how poor those mortgage payments make us feel.

All things considered, we are living the dream! Life feels so beautiful since that change in perspective. My small house doesn't drive me crazy. I would be happy to live here forever if we have to. I didn't even wince when paying my last mortgage payment. I'll gladly do it considering everything else I have to be thankful for.