Donkeys and Elephants

Today, I am feeling a little blue. ;)

Honestly, though, I did wake up with what felt like a steak knife stabbing me through my left eyeball.

It may or may not have been directly related to Tuesday's election results.

So, today's post is going to be about

"How to live in the moment...and not dwell on things that cause you pain or stress." ;)

This will be one of the very rare times anything political will ever appear in my writing!

~

The older I get, the more I realize that there are so many things in our lives that we have no control over.  Don't get me wrong....I will take what we have here in our country any day compared to what women have to deal with in the Middle East!

When I look back 20 years, when both Mark and I were teaching, our salaries would increase each year.  Our insurance was fantastic.  Since I was under his insurance policy, the money that would have been spent on my insurance plan through the school we worked at was automatically put into a TSA.  

The didn't just roll it back into the school's budget....they still gave me that money!  (I couldn't believe it.)

Sometimes I wonder why we didn't stay there.

~

Funny how quickly life can change.

I, obviously, got out of teaching at the right time, considering the hardships teachers have been dealing with over the past few years.

However, we rely heavily on Mark's salary, and insurance coverage.

Unfortunately, things are working backwards these days.  His salary goes down, and the cost of insurance goes up.  If only we had been born 30 years earlier.  We could be enjoying a comfortable retirement right now!

~ 

A couple days ago, I got the statement for that TSA I mentioned.

Granted, we were only in that district for 3 years, and I only worked full time one year, before I had Lexie and went part-time.

I figure that money will pay expenses for about 6 months.  So, if I live to be 90, I can retire when I am 89.5!!

I am sure I will be blind and deaf by then, so I would like to apologize to everyone at my church right now for the "music" I will be providing in the future. 

~

I won't lie.  I am worried about the future.  I am worried about the next four years, because in the past four years, we have definitely taken a hit.

And, four years from now, we will have two kids in college.

(Thank goodness Mark built his "collapsable ice shack" aka: "The Lake House" last year. ) At least we will have a place to live!

 Beautiful, isn't it?  And SO spacious. 

Of course, many are happy with the way the vote went, so I am happy for them.  I would guess that things have changed for the better in the last four years in their lives.  

I do think all educators are worried right now.  It is really stressful not knowing what the future holds.  Not knowing if the job you work so hard at every day will be enough to provide for your family anymore.  Not knowing if there even will be a job down the line.

I think the best thing we can do is pull together and support one another, regardless of who we voted for, what our tax bracket is, what we do for a living....seriously, none of that matters.  

 My hope is that every person who holds a place in our government does his or her job with the people of their state in mind.  As long as he/she always has our best interest at heart, I am ok with that.  When it's about money or power or having the "right" people in your pocket....that is when I lose complete faith.

We would never allow a doctor who wasn't completely capable, and didn't have our best interest at heart operate on our children or ourselves.

A person who did not care about children, had no desire to educate their students, and only cared about the paycheck, would never be hired as a teacher.

We check references, and make it a priority to inspect previous work when hiring a contractor.  We don't just hire some guy because he says he is good.

I sure hope we hold the same standards for the people who run our state.

~

I am thankful for our freedom to vote.  For the freedom to, on some level, have our voices heard.  

I do have to admit, there are days that I wish I could just enclose my home and family in a bubble, and lock ourselves away from the corruption and atrocities in the world.  However, if I did that, we would also miss out on the beautiful things that are happening around us as well.

So, I will focus on the good, try to make a difference where I can, and hope that  any the lost souls will find their way back to peace.

~

Tomorrow is a new day.  I plan to make it a happy one. :)