Looking forward

I feel a little like the stock market today — ending flat after a somewhat volatile year. There were highs — Trinity got a raise and a title promotion, we celebrated our blue moon anniversary, Michael started kindergarten — but they seemed tempered by the lows — sky high rents and the decision to hold off on moving, not saving as much as we anticipated when Mike went to kindergarten, then the rent hike.

Generally, I start each new year with great anticipation. It’s my favorite holiday, usually, but maybe I’m just a little stretched thin between the full-time gig and being the mom of three active boys to really muster up my usual enthusiasm.

A lot of the things I hoped would happen didn’t pan out in 2015. Like moving; asking rents were too damn high — hey wait… — and the competition for RENTING was fierce. Competition for renting. I mean, that’s just a ridiculous statement alone. I had also hoped, hoped, hoped that we would be able to muster up enough money to go to a dear friend’s wedding in August and it just wasn’t realistic — too little money, too many kids, too much debt, and apparently we’re too responsible to go against all that.

But, 2015 wasn’t a total wash. I did mark 10 years at CBS, and its a milestone I never thought I’d reach at any workplace. In this day and age, with journalism under fire as a career and an aspiration, that’s pretty significant, in my very humble opinion. I’m also enjoying having an annual four weeks of vacation available to me — hey man, I worked hard for that.

So for the meantime, I am just kind of coasting, but I have a desire to do more. I always thought that once I reached 10 years in news, I’d move on to my next step, and now, not only have I reached 12 years in news, I’ve reached 10 years at one news organization. While that’s nothing to sweep under the rug, I have been thinking hard about what I’d want to do next, and I’ve come to a conclusion. It’s something I plan to start in the new year, and if I can do it, I’d be fulfilling a childhood dream of mine. I won’t elaborate further because I don’t want to jinx/pressure myself, but I will say I’m terrified I will crash and burn. But so it goes with all things worth doing…

The other thing I’m looking toward this year is making the monumental effort to buy a house. Again, this idea terrifies me, since we have very little savings and the stock that we have has been flattened this year, so there goes that plan, but we’re going to try anyway. I read a lot of personal finance articles, and I know that buying in Southern California isn’t all that financially smart. But this is a purchase that’s not just for me, but for my family and our future, so I believe that will outweigh the financial sense of the situation. And before everyone starts sending me their real estate agent’s info — I already have someone in mind. Thanks, though.

Hope springs eternal that the next year will be even better than this last one!