Beginning With Gratitude

Many of you feature weekly or monthly gratitude posts, and while I love reading these, I´ve never written a post like this myself.  But today, I can´t help but outline how grateful I am for where things stand right now.

I want to start the blogging week the way I start every real-life day–with gratitude.

MY HUSBAND IS DONE FOR THE SEMESTER

Though he had a rough semester, he finished with all A´s and B´s, and I´m really proud of him, especially considering his supremely difficult courseload.  We talked a lot about what he should do over the summer.  I wanted him to work part time, he wanted to come to Houston, and just be with me.

I was torn.  I´m in the thick of it.  I´m our sole income earner.  I´m fully aware of the state of our finances, and I want to be debt free as quick as possible.  I wanted him to get a summer job and contribute to the household finances.  But then he reminded me that we have a couple of small vacations scheduled, and that I´ll probably be moving sometime in June, and being tied to a new job would get in the way of our travel plans, and would hinder him from being able to help me move as needed.

Also, we haven´t really seen much of each other since January.  Since I took this internship, we visit each other about every other weekend, but knowing that my new job will probably be somewhere other than NOLA (where he will be), he just wanted us to “live together” again, however briefly.

Can´t fault him for that.  And honestly, I agree.  As a compromise, he´s going to write lots of solutions for Slader to make a little extra cash this summer.

WE´RE GETTING TO SPEND LOTS OF TIME TOGETHER

He came to Houston last Monday, and my boss has been out of town, so I´ve been working from “home” (his brother´s house).  He´s been reading and playing video games while I work, and it´s been lovely.  Then… surprise!

FREE FANCY HOTEL STAY

This place is like, ridiculously nice.

His awesome Aunt Michelle took us out for dinner and drinks last week, and gifted us with a 4-night all-expenses-paid stay at a super beautiful boutique hotel in downtown Houston, and it´s been so nice.  We´ve done work, played video games, eaten delicious foods, lounged by the pool, and generally relaxed.  It´s certainly felt like a vacation even without leaving the city.

FAMILY GATHERINGS AND NEW FRIENDS

There is no such thing as too much crawfish.

By coincidence, Michael´s parents are in town this weekend, too, and his cousin had a crawfish boil at her house yesterday. She and her husband do a big one every year on Memorial Day weekend and invite all their friends.  It was a group of about 30 of us, and the crawfish were huge and delicious.  It was nice to hang out with her, and Michael´s parents, and meet new friends.  Also, I´m all about any invitation to a crawfish boil.  I can´t get enough, and this was probably the last one of the season.  It was great.

FREE TRIP TO CHICAGO COMING UP

This weekend we´re taking 5 days to Chicago, for free, courtesy of our quizbowl side-gig.  I love Chicago.  We go every year and I never get tired of it.  And as an added plus, I invited my mom!  For Mother´s Day, I bought her a round trip ticket for $97 (thank you Spirit Airlines!) and she´s going to be joining us.  She´s not partaking in the quizbowl fun, so she´ll have more free time than us but we´ll certainly all get to visit the city together.  She hasn´t been to Chicago since she was in her 20s, so she´s super excited, and I am, too.

TWO JOB INTERVIEWS

Aaaaand after applying and applying for jobs, last week I had two official interviews for jobs with VW.  One is for a Go To Market spot in Alpharetta, GA; one is for an Executive Relations job in Basking Ridge, NJ.  Hopefully I´ll get interviews for spots other than these two, but even if I don´t, I feel good.  Although I was feeling good about putting positive energy out into the world, it´s nice to have it boomerang and come back.

The Alpharetta interview I was able to do via telepresence (like a super fancy Facetime), but the one in Jersey I´m flying out to next week.  “Corporate travel” always makes me feel fancy, and well, I´m just so humbled by it all.

THAT IS TO SAY,

After having months and months of uncertainty, I just finally feel peace.  I feel happy.  I think a lot of this is due to just having Michael nearby again, because honestly, nothing has been resolved yet.  The job thing is still up in the air, but I just feel… happy.

Happy Monday.  Happy Memorial Day.  How are you?