Year in Review

This is late night, so...
It's a top ten list!

Here are the top ten highlights of 2008 for me --

10. Blog pals, posts, and thoughts of upcoming posts (think Tinkerbell and shoes).

9. I was able to hone in on having better organization, which lead to...

8. A neater, more comfortable home. I still have some work to do here, but I'm better off than I was. Better organization also lead to...

7. An improved financial condition and a better credit score which inspired...

6. Trading. Yay me! I'm actively trading again! And I'm still pretty good at it! Who knew?

5. Late this year (I think it's in these archives here), an old and painful situation with my therapist was finally made well. He understands and he truly cares about what happened with us. It's officially safe to love this man again. I spoke with him after a recent meltdown. I said something about how I was recovering from it, and I heard from The Teenage Girl. She said (to him) "...and you didn't leave me." I wanted to repeat it to him, but sometimes I get funny about mush. I did write it to him, though. I can't even begin to explain what this man (Dream Mother) means to me.

4. I suffered just a little less with anxiety in 2008. It's not gone, but it's starting to get better. It's a little better than it was the year before, and quite a bit better than it was the year before that (which was a non-stop nightmare hell-on-Earth).

3. I have a work in progress. It's slow, but I'm writing fiction again! I had all but given up hope that this could ever happen. I can actually envision completing this work.

2. My kids are still doing well in school. This was the year that my little one saw the amazing miracle of reading skills that have matured and solidified well enough for her to read a chapter book all by herself just for fun. She likes a series about a kitten with magical powers. :-) This warms me inside.

1. We're all still okay. Everyone is healthy. I have healthy kids and a healthy husband and they are still #1 on my list.

If 2009 is better than 2008... well, that would be amazing. Who knows? It could actually get better. This list sounds good, but I have a long way to go. Anyone who has been reading me for a long time knows what kind of bombed out, shitty mess I started blogging with, so improvement does not mean all is rosy. I'll take it, though! I was a total disaster area, now I'm an organized mess. This time next year I might be... a diamond in the rough? Maybe I could even sleep at night or something big like that! That would be great.

(And this is where I tell the inner doom-sayer to be quiet. It's saying ugly things like, "Don't get too happy. Something bad could happen. Someone you love might get sick and die. Or you could get a disease." I say, "Alright, Gramma. The gig is up. I don't give a shit whether or not the pope disapproves of Earthly happiness. The pope is probably a closet case and wants to make everyone else suffer right along with him. Can that noise!")