Everything has a season

[JustStunned]

@ALL: Thank you for taking the time to congratulate me. I appreciate it.

@BeingMe: I am very much looking forward to meeting the new little one. She’ll likely be about 6 months old before I have a chance. Her Mother and Father have asked us not to visit. It is a dynamic caused as a by-product of this sitch. I will respect their wishes and wait for their visit over the summer.

@Gunny: The Keystone Cougar 318SAB, 2008 is on the block as part of the D settlement. I am looking at 5th wheel toyhaulers. I hope to pick up something gently used in about 3 yrs. We camped all over. Memorable trips included Grand and Bryce Canyons, Rocky Mtn Nat Park, Door County WI, UP MI, Col Williamsburg, DC, and of course Gettysburg. Not all of them in the last RV or with STBX. When my Son graduated P. I. We picked him up with the RV and slowly drove home camping along the way. This gave him a chance to decompress a little and us a chance to reconnect.

@Val: I very much want to cuddle that little one and watch her grow.

If we do not plan for a brighter future we often fail to move forward. There is an old Japanese proverb that I interpret to mean make a plan and execute it:
Vision without action is a daydream…..Action without vision is a nightmare
I find if I do not have a plan for the future I dwell on the past. While reviewing past actions seeking improvements is a good thing, dwelling on past actions causes me to ruminate and adds to my depression.

I would add it doesn’t have to be a perfectly planned solution. It actually should not be planned as a perfect solution. I was taught to plan a 70% solution and adjust as the plan executes, easier said than done, but doable. Here in the private sector an 80% planned solution is the goal.

I have also been taught to use fact based analysis to determine root causes to problems, applying countermeasures only to those root causes under my control. Amazing how DB that is.

@MyKarma & LITB: I am keeping it together, stronger now than when we first began this journey last year.

Journaling: While reorganizing the freezer (kinda like the sock drawer) I came across the pork roast STBX and I purchased for New Years day 2011. It is a family tradition to host a family meal on New Years Day, and pork was considered a good luck food in STBX‘s family. Needless to say the meal never came off last year.

Sooooo, this New Years I prepped the meal and divided it out between mom and me. The original plan had been to hold the dinner as if last year did not happen. Other factors intruded to prevent that from happening, I adjusted. Long story short Mom and I are just finishing the roast, with a 15 bean soup using the bone and left over pork as flavoring. I am rather happy with the way it turned out. To explain once or twice a month I make up containers of meals, so when mom doesn’t want to deal with meal prep she has something to fall back upon.

Family takes care of family, we are a bit clannish in that respect. Yes, this has become a better week. Friday promises to be a bit of a challenge. I do know I will at the very least maintain bearing throughout the proceedings. And Saturday will find me snaking a septic line, this time at mom’s house. Not exactly GAL, but necessary.