I survived 2009 ...

I survived 2009!!! I think t-shirts should be made to say that!!! I am pretty sure alot of other people feel the way Clint and I do. Although ... I must admit ... at times ... you feel like you are the only one in the world dealing with certain stuff. I know, I know, I know ... there are SO many other families out there that have been dealing with this darn economy ... but when the tears are falling and the stress is as thick as fog in your house ... you start to feel really alone and that no one out there understands what you are going through. I have to admit ... I NEVER thought this stuff would happen to Clint and I. We put money in the bank when we could, and our bills were always paid. But ... that dreaded word "layed off", I NEVER thought that would be US!!! Then ... BAM!!! He lost his job not once ... but TWICE in six months. Yeah!!! So the word "money" was something that came up alot in our conversations, but it was not a "nice word". It had turned more into a "cuss word" that was thrown around and dodged from time to time. At times, it felt like we were robbing Peter to pay Paul. But ... some how ... we did it. Then we have the second "cuss word" in our family. The word "House". Yeah ... such a simple word. A word that is suspose to mean family, comfort, safety and security ... suddenly meant ... UGH!!!! In February we "sold" our house and moved into a rental ... only to find out that the day before closing ... THEY FREAKING BACKED OUT!!! OH YES!!! After the tears fell for a day ... we got to the stage of being TICKED OFF!!! (If anyone wants to track down Mr. and Mrs. Roper ... who now lives in Lawrence ... Clint and I have a few choice words for them. Yes ... 10 months later ... we are still a bit ticked off. *grin*) So, we loaded up our family and moved back to our "home". THEN ... the "buyers" tried to sue us for the earnest money ... THAT WE HAD TO GIVE BACK TO THEM!!! They sent us a horrible nasty email (which I kept in hopes to look back on one day and laugh about) saying that it was OUR fault that we had all the moving cost and that WE forked out all the money to pay for the things they wanted fixed. Uhhh ... what else are we suspose to do when we thought we "sold" or house? So ... next came the stage of ... *rolling eyes* ... "shrugging our shoulders" and moving on. What else could we do? We wanted to put it behind us and forget about it. BUT ... that is kind of hard when we had complete strangers coming up to us in the grocery store, gas station, PTO meetings and even walking up to us in our own driveway ... asking us what exactly happened with the house. I kept telling Clint ... that this is part of living in a small town ... but it still threw him for a loop. BUT ... I know all of my fellow Erie folk ... know exactly what I am talking about. haa haa Don't get me wrong ... 2009 brought my family another year of safety and health, and that means SO much more than all the bad things that happened. Everytime I started to cry or Clint would get stressed out ... we would remind one another that the kids and ourselves were healthy and that was what truely mattered. 2009 brought us some ups ... and alot of downs. BUT ... Clint and I made it through!!! We survived it together. Yes, at times, it felt like it was Clint and me against the world ... but by gosh ... we sure did make one heck of a team!!! On a side note ... we did finally sell out house and officially CLOSED on October 27th. We moved into a 2 bedroom rental. Yes, I know what you are thinking, "Don't you have 3 kids?" Why yes we do!!! That is why when the owners of the townhomes called us 4 short weeks after we moved in, asking us if we wanted to move into a 3 bedroom that was becoming available ... we could not say "YES" fast enough. In case you are counting ... that is packing up our family and moving FOUR different times in TEN months!!!

P.S. There are a few people out there ... and you know who you are ... Clint and I would NEVER have made it through this past year without you (for more reasons that one)!!! The saying "The people that truely care about you ... They are the ones that are walking in the door when everyone is walking out". Well ... it means more to me now than before when I just reading it in a book.