Month: January 2025

All Mine

See that tiny “0 payments left” in the bottom right of this screenshot? It’s a beautiful sight, isn’t it? It sure is to me. It means that I owe nothing else on my new car, and that baby now belongs 100% to me. I should receive the title today.

I still miss my old car, and if it had been a reasonable option, I would still be driving that one. But I won’t lie: the new car smell makes me smile every time I slide into the driver’s seat.

This feeling of pride and satisfaction, for paying off my car so fast, for being in a position to do it ourselves, is something that my husband and I have done our best to encourage and instill in the kids. Unfortunately, self-reliance, independence, and pride were actively and deliberately squashed in their other home, for many reasons, none of which benefitted the kids.

All of the kids are adults now, and it’s out of my hands what direction they choose to take themselves: toward healthy, autonomous, properly-functioning adulthood, or…well, what they see with others in their lives.

I am grateful that my parents raised me and my brothers to take care of ourselves and embrace self-reliance. We were excited to strike out on our own and shape our own lives. I took for granted that everyone wanted to be their own person–a real adult. It’s still unfathomable to me that anyone would happily surrender every drop of their dignity to remain eternally useless in exchange for daddy’s credit card.

My parents got to see all four of us kids grow up, get jobs, support ourselves, buy our first car, move into our first homes, climb all the rungs of the ladder to successful adulthood. Everything they taught us and fought for had sunk in, and we thrived on our own.

I wish they were here to see this car. I wish I could call them and tell them it’s paid off already, and all mine now. And most of all, I wish I could thank them for teaching me to stand on my own two feet, to master my own life, to value my work ethic and my independence. I am grateful that being any other way remains so damn unnatural –and extremely undesirable–to me.

Snow Days

Quotes about snow don’t typically get my attention here in the sunny, hot south, but the last few days have been anything but typical. After a long, cold night of freezing rain earlier this week, we woke up to a thick layer of white, glistening ice.

I remember the first snow of every season, growing up in the north. No matter how old I was, that first snow was always exciting. Before anyone stepped foot in it, or drove in it, or touched it in any way, it was so beautiful and peaceful, a smooth, calming blanket of sparkly white.

Something else that was exciting about those long-ago days was getting a day off school if the snow was heavy enough, and that thrill hasn’t changed, either. The best part of this oddball snow and ice storm has been this: my husband and I found ourselves with three straight snow days!

We couldn’t resist venturing out into the ice, crunching our way around the yard, dashing back inside, shivering, to warm back up before heading right back out. He thought he was clever and asked me to come out and look at something, just so he could throw a snowball at me. One look at his trouble-making, smiling face, and I knew what he was up to, but I went outside anyway, just so he could let loose and then laugh like a little boy (albeit, a very tall little boy).

This weekend will warm up quite a bit, and the sun will likely erase every speck of snow and ice, leaving us with mud, muck, and memories. I can’t say I want a repeat of the arctic cold and the polar ice any time soon, but I can say, there is no one else I would rather be snowed in with than my snowball-tossing, snuggling, laughing, best friend and blanket sharer.

Recharge

The weekend is close enough that I can almost taste it, and not a moment too soon! It’s been a good week, just a very busy one. Thankfully, a few meetings at work this afternoon were canceled, so I have a bit of calm and quiet right now before heading home.

We’re going to start off the weekend cold and rainy, so I am looking forward to sleeping in to an obscene hour tomorrow, wrapped up tight in blankets and my husband’s arms until we feel like finally emerging into the day. My goal is to relax and recharge as much as possible the next two days, then lay the necessary groundwork for some exciting changes next week (more on that later).

Happy Friday, and here’s to an awesome weekend!

Hot Chocolate Night

We are a few days into a string of below-freezing nights. I’m over it already, but we still have more than a week to go of this arctic fun.

My husband keeps reminding me that I hate summer and being hot. Well, I never said I wanted to swing to the other extreme and live in the North Pole. Whatever happened to nice, cool fall days with a soft breeze, when you might need a sweatshirt and jeans, not a parka and gloves and the temperament of a polar bear?

Last night, my husband built the first fire of the season in our fireplace. We have been in this house nearly a decade, and it is still exciting to me when we have a fire going. I loved snuggling on the couch together, cozy and warm on a cold night, listening to the fire crackling. The best part, though, is after we head to bed together, and the house is dark and quiet, but the fire is still glowing and snapping, peaceful and soothing.

Tonight is going to be even colder than last night. My husband and I already have a date night planned, then coming home to thaw out and relax by the fireplace again. This morning, he said, “We need hot chocolate tonight.” I agreed and said, “With marshmallows!”

If we absolutely must have freezing cold nights, well, I’m grateful for our fireplace, our warm house, hot chocolate in different flavors, and snuggling up with my best friend…oh, and of course, marshmallows!

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