Day 363

Hope overflowed mixed with excitement, gratitude, and dreams becoming a reality all over my metaphorical coffee table today; and there's no way I'm cleaning up the mess. Day 363 is the mark of a new beginning. It's not a huge salary, and it's certainly not in the best neighborhood, but it's a door opening into the career field I've studied in for so long. It's an opportunity to gain experience in the world of academia. I'm excited, nervous, and just a tiny bit sad I won't be a stay at home mom much longer. I'm lucky enough to have two supportive men in my life that are very happy for me. So overall, I'm extremely grateful. After six months, I finally have a job! I start in a little over two weeks pending all of the paperwork from DSS is received.

My celebration of this great event in my life is mostly an internal one, regardless of how badly I'd like to go out to dinner with my two awesome men, and even my mom. God knows how supportive they've been through all of this jobless void I've been living in for the past 6 months..which leads me to think about all the wonderful people I'm so grateful for in my life. I have friends I haven't met that I feel closer to most days than ones I actually see. They make me smile, offer support, and are genuinely happy and sad for and with me on any given basis. They know who they are, but they'll never know how much they mean to me.

So day 363 we get check one thing off my life to-do list. I say "we" because without the people I love and am more than grateful for in my life, I would not be able to check this one off. They've listened to me whine when I didn't want to do homework, pushed me through the tough stuff, and supported me 110% along the way. I doubt if I would have continued on without everyone cheering me on; sad as that may sound it's true.

It's funny how one event as minor as it may be in the grand scheme of things evokes so many different emotions and thoughts. I look back sometimes and see this girl and all the chaos and mess she used to be. Sometimes she looks at me with eyes so sullen almost engulfing me into them trapping me in that past with her. Today she looked at me with relief in her eyes, as if to say "Finally...you're getting there. It's almost time to let me go." So maybe I started late with college, marriage, and my career....but today I'm grateful I got to start.