How did 2008 turn out, was it better or worse than you expected? This is a personal reflection of how 2008
turned out for me.....

It Sucked. 2008 had to be one of the worse years of my life up to this point. This is how it went.

January and February were uneventful but after that it was one disaster after another. In spring The Boy
found himself in a situation, I won't go into details to honor his privacy but it was very taxing on the family,
emotionally and financially. Summer, as I started work on my mothers deck, she fell ill. We took her to the
hospital to find out why she was laboring to breathe and she as diagnosed with small cell cancer in her left
lung. The doctors were confident that chemo would help since it was a Small part of the lung that was
cancerous. After two sessions she developed pneumonia and back in the hospital. She died on August 12th.
Because she was the caregiver to my father, he had a stroke 5 years ago, my wife and I had to move into
his house so we can now take care of his needs. This meant I had to break my lease on the house I was
renting, which also meant I had to pay rent on a house I was no longer living in. Also during the year, my
truck needed 3 major repairs; brakes, cat back exhaust and rear spring brackets. The motorcycle needed
an ignition repair. The oil tank in the house and the upstairs shower both sprung leaks and the gutters
clogged. See.....it sucked!

Oh well, the year is almost over. I am no longer paying rent. I can only hope 2009 brings better results.

I don't think it could be any worse.  :P

Hoping your 2009 is great year loki. :)  err....my 2008 was a good year...but I'd feel guilty going into details at this point. :-\\

Hoping your 2009 is great year loki. :)   err....my 2008 was a good year...but I'd feel guilty going into details at this point. :-\\



Why? I'm still upbeat. I may be beaten but not broken. Please go into details, I am interested to see how the year
went for everyone else, that is the whole poiont of the thread.

2008 was better than 2007 for me.  I lost my father in 2007, so that automatically made it worse.  2008 was tough, financially, but I guess it wasn't too bad of a year for me.

I am still in the same place, another year closer to paying off my house so that makes it good for me. :)

Why? I'm still upbeat. I may be beaten but not broken. Please go into details, I am interested to see how the year
went for everyone else, that is the whole poiont of the thread.


Okay....Well I got two salary increases this year (increasing it by AUS$21,300). There ahas been no sickness in my family...my parents are alive and well (in their mid 80's). My children...aged 16,14, 12 and 9 have all done well in school. Financially, we have managed to maintain our home loan plus three additional rental properties (all on my single income). We are just about to go on a family holiday to New Zealand (but that will be in January 2009).

Not the best year ever or even spectacular...but in perspective, a great year where really nothing went wrong or any bad news personally.

I'm sure most of you know that my year sucked the big one.

January: Went ok.
February:  Lost my 99 year young grandmother on the 15th.  :\'( :\'( :\'(
March:  22nd granddaughter #3 was born (VERY good thing)
April:. Went to Puerto Rico to visit Carlos' sister & dad. My sister & her family joined us for a week. Yeah, that was good.
Summer: No sailing at all this year.
August: Went to Tulsa to celebrate my grandmother's 100th birthday-well it was more of a memorial than a birthday party. Last time my family (minus my mother) will ever be together.
Fall: Ok.
November: Lost my oldest sister on the 21st. She was only 54 years old.  :\'( :\'( :\'(

Have been depressed since.

So, even though there were a few good things (like Granddaughter) this year sucked the big one.



Cat

Okay....Well I got two salary increases this year (increasing it by AUS$21,300). There ahas been no sickness in my family...my parents are alive and well (in their mid 80's). My children...aged 16,14, 12 and 9 have all done well in school. Financially, we have managed to maintain our home loan plus three additional rental properties (all on my single income). We are just about to go on a family holiday to New Zealand (but that will be in January 2009).

Not the best year ever or even spectacular...but in perspective, a great year where really nothing went wrong or any bad news personally.


See now, that's great to hear. I am glad the year went well for you and hope the next is just as good...or better. After all, we all couldn't
have had crappy year.  ;D



2008 was better than 2007 for me.  I lost my father in 2007, so that automatically made it worse.  2008 was tough, financially, but I guess it wasn't too bad of a year for me.

I am still in the same place, another year closer to paying off my house so that makes it good for me. :)


Paying off a house is always a good thing. I picked up my fathers mortgage, it is a little more than I was paying in rent but in 3 more years
it will be paid off. See, already something to look forward to.  ;D



I'm sure most of you know that my year sucked the big one.

January: Went ok.
February:  Lost my 99 year young grandmother on the 15th.  :\'( :\'( :\'(
March:  22nd granddaughter #3 was born (VERY good thing)
April:. Went to Puerto Rico to visit Carlos' sister & dad. My sister & her family joined us for a week. Yeah, that was good.
Summer: No sailing at all this year.
August: Went to Tulsa to celebrate my grandmother's 100th birthday-well it was more of a memorial than a birthday party. Last time my family (minus my mother) will ever be together.
Fall: Ok.
November: Lost my oldest sister on the 21st. She was only 54 years old.  :\'( :\'( :\'(

Have been depressed since.

So, even though there were a few good things (like Granddaughter) this year sucked the big one.



Cat


Well Cat, it looks like we are in the same boat. We can only hope for brighter days.

God this was a crappy year!

The only good things that happened were the celeb events I attended like the
Buffy the Vampire Layer Slayer reunion,
Criminal Minds
Bones
Chuck
Pushing Daisies (two of them)
Judd Apatow and Friends  (and any I forgot)

Other than that....
My Aunt died in March
My baby girl- Carly died in April (the day before my mom's birthday)  :\'( :\'( :\'(
My dad had surgery in May (he came out of it okay which was good but I had to take care of him which sucked)
Worked my ass off June, July August etc no love from work.
other work stuff I can't mention (some of you know why) but it sucked!

God this was a crappy year!

The only good things that happened were the celeb events I attended like the
Buffy the Vampire Layer Slayer reunion,
Criminal Minds
Bones
Chuck
Pushing Daisies (two of them)
Judd Apatow and Friends  (and any I forgot)

Other than that....
My Aunt died in March
My baby girl- Carly died in April (the day before my mom's birthday)  :\'( :\'( :\'(
My dad had surgery in May (he came out of it okay which was good but I had to take care of him which sucked)
Worked my ass off June, July August etc no love from work.
other work stuff I can't mention (some of you know why) but it sucked!




Don't forget your fire and being "homeless" for a few days.



Cat

Don't forget your fire and being "homeless" for a few days.



Cat


I thought about that on my way home tonight.

How did 2008 turn out, was it better or worse than you expected? This is a personal reflection of how 2008
turned out for me.....

It Sucked. 2008 had to be one of the worse years of my life up to this point. This is how it went.

January and February were uneventful but after that it was one disaster after another. In spring The Boy
found himself in a situation, I won't go into details to honor his privacy but it was very taxing on the family,
emotionally and financially. Summer, as I started work on my mothers deck, she fell ill. We took her to the
hospital to find out why she was laboring to breathe and she as diagnosed with small cell cancer in her left
lung. The doctors were confident that chemo would help since it was a Small part of the lung that was
cancerous. After two sessions she developed pneumonia and back in the hospital. She died on August 12th.
Because she was the caregiver to my father, he had a stroke 5 years ago, my wife and I had to move into
his house so we can now take care of his needs. This meant I had to break my lease on the house I was
renting, which also meant I had to pay rent on a house I was no longer living in. Also during the year, my
truck needed 3 major repairs; brakes, cat back exhaust and rear spring brackets. The motorcycle needed
an ignition repair. The oil tank in the house and the upstairs shower both sprung leaks and the gutters
clogged. See.....it sucked!

Oh well, the year is almost over. I am no longer paying rent. I can only hope 2009 brings better results.

I don't think it could be any worse.  :P




Hey, at least the Phillies won the World Series :P  Look at us poor saps in Chicago!  :P

2008 was an okay year...I felt productive but definitely could have been even more so.

I've been pondering this one for a bit.

The first nine months of 2008 were pretty uneventful for me, with a few surprises and fun times thrown in.  Travelling by train across the country, figuring out why I couldn't exercise a lot, knowing my family was fine.....all good.  It was these past three months that have sucked major balls, starting on September 8th (god, I'm always going to hate that day).  That was the day that my....problems started.  I'm going to be selfish here for a bit in this post and just say that the emotions and experience of having a complete and utter meltdown are the worst thing that could ever happen to someone.  I literally wanted to die because I was so bad off.  I almost did die by my own hand.  It was only the thought of Rice and Jason that stopped me from using a razor blade to get out of that mess.  I'm being candid here.  This was not a joke.  I wanted to off myself and stop the horrendous feelings that were washing over me and committing the act of suicide was sounding pretty rational (in my mind) at the time.  Luckily, I didn't follow through with it and got some help.  I'm not saying that everything is sunshine and roses with that now.  Far from it.  I'm in a constant struggle to be upbeat and to not hide in the apartment all day.  I long for the days when I didn't feel like this and knowing that I'll probably be dealing with this for the rest of my life is a daunting task, even with meds, therapy, journals, and you guys around for support.

The other things that happened, you already know about.  The unexpected death of my grandmother, the family dog almost dying, the stress of putting together a trip across the country within two weeks and figuring out finances and other sh*t....yeah, it sucked.  I doubt next year will be much better financially, but I certainly hope it won't get any worse than that.

I've been pondering this one for a bit.

The first nine months of 2008 were pretty uneventful for me, with a few surprises and fun times thrown in.  Travelling by train across the country, figuring out why I couldn't exercise a lot, knowing my family was fine.....all good.  It was these past three months that have sucked major balls, starting on September 8th (god, I'm always going to hate that day).  That was the day that my....problems started.  I'm going to be selfish here for a bit in this post and just say that the emotions and experience of having a complete and utter meltdown are the worst thing that could ever happen to someone.  I literally wanted to die because I was so bad off.  I almost did die by my own hand.  It was only the thought of Rice and Jason that stopped me from using a razor blade to get out of that mess.  I'm being candid here.  This was not a joke.  I wanted to off myself and stop the horrendous feelings that were washing over me and committing the act of suicide was sounding pretty rational (in my mind) at the time.  Luckily, I didn't follow through with it and got some help.  I'm not saying that everything is sunshine and roses with that now.  Far from it.  I'm in a constant struggle to be upbeat and to not hide in the apartment all day.  I long for the days when I didn't feel like this and knowing that I'll probably be dealing with this for the rest of my life is a daunting task, even with meds, therapy, journals, and you guys around for support.

The other things that happened, you already know about.  The unexpected death of my grandmother, the family dog almost dying, the stress of putting together a trip across the country within two weeks and figuring out finances and other sh*t....yeah, it sucked.  I doubt next year will be much better financially, but I certainly hope it won't get any worse than that.


I, for one, am glad you worked your way through September and are here to tell the story. Life isn't easy sometimes at the best of times without having a dark cloud attempting to move over all the time.

Here's hoping a wonderful 2009 to you, Rice and Jason!  :)

I've been pondering this one for a bit.

The first nine months of 2008 were pretty uneventful for me, with a few surprises and fun times thrown in.  Travelling by train across the country, figuring out why I couldn't exercise a lot, knowing my family was fine.....all good.  It was these past three months that have sucked major balls, starting on September 8th (god, I'm always going to hate that day).  That was the day that my....problems started.  I'm going to be selfish here for a bit in this post and just say that the emotions and experience of having a complete and utter meltdown are the worst thing that could ever happen to someone.  I literally wanted to die because I was so bad off.  I almost did die by my own hand.  It was only the thought of Rice and Jason that stopped me from using a razor blade to get out of that mess.  I'm being candid here.  This was not a joke.  I wanted to off myself and stop the horrendous feelings that were washing over me and committing the act of suicide was sounding pretty rational (in my mind) at the time.  Luckily, I didn't follow through with it and got some help.  I'm not saying that everything is sunshine and roses with that now.  Far from it.  I'm in a constant struggle to be upbeat and to not hide in the apartment all day.  I long for the days when I didn't feel like this and knowing that I'll probably be dealing with this for the rest of my life is a daunting task, even with meds, therapy, journals, and you guys around for support.

The other things that happened, you already know about.  The unexpected death of my grandmother, the family dog almost dying, the stress of putting together a trip across the country within two weeks and figuring out finances and other sh*t....yeah, it sucked.  I doubt next year will be much better financially, but I certainly hope it won't get any worse than that.



I for one am glad you're still here Jess.  :)  Its rare to find a person who tells the truth 100% of the time but, my friend, always call it as you see and never sugarcoat things... even when its about yourself. I appreciate that (but always hope your sights are locked on anyone but me when you pull that trigger  :) )

Again glad the dog is getting better and that you all made it home safe!

I've been pondering this one for a bit.

The first nine months of 2008 were pretty uneventful for me, with a few surprises and fun times thrown in.  Travelling by train across the country, figuring out why I couldn't exercise a lot, knowing my family was fine.....all good.  It was these past three months that have sucked major balls, starting on September 8th (god, I'm always going to hate that day).  That was the day that my....problems started.  I'm going to be selfish here for a bit in this post and just say that the emotions and experience of having a complete and utter meltdown are the worst thing that could ever happen to someone.  I literally wanted to die because I was so bad off.  I almost did die by my own hand.  It was only the thought of Rice and Jason that stopped me from using a razor blade to get out of that mess.  I'm being candid here.  This was not a joke.  I wanted to off myself and stop the horrendous feelings that were washing over me and committing the act of suicide was sounding pretty rational (in my mind) at the time.  Luckily, I didn't follow through with it and got some help.  I'm not saying that everything is sunshine and roses with that now.  Far from it.  I'm in a constant struggle to be upbeat and to not hide in the apartment all day.  I long for the days when I didn't feel like this and knowing that I'll probably be dealing with this for the rest of my life is a daunting task, even with meds, therapy, journals, and you guys around for support.

The other things that happened, you already know about.  The unexpected death of my grandmother, the family dog almost dying, the stress of putting together a trip across the country within two weeks and figuring out finances and other sh*t....yeah, it sucked.  I doubt next year will be much better financially, but I certainly hope it won't get any worse than that.


I'm glad you're still here, Jess.  :)

I've been pondering this one for a bit.

The first nine months of 2008 were pretty uneventful for me, with a few surprises and fun times thrown in.  Travelling by train across the country, figuring out why I couldn't exercise a lot, knowing my family was fine.....all good.  It was these past three months that have sucked major balls, starting on September 8th (god, I'm always going to hate that day).  That was the day that my....problems started.  I'm going to be selfish here for a bit in this post and just say that the emotions and experience of having a complete and utter meltdown are the worst thing that could ever happen to someone.  I literally wanted to die because I was so bad off.  I almost did die by my own hand.  It was only the thought of Rice and Jason that stopped me from using a razor blade to get out of that mess.  I'm being candid here.  This was not a joke.  I wanted to off myself and stop the horrendous feelings that were washing over me and committing the act of suicide was sounding pretty rational (in my mind) at the time.  Luckily, I didn't follow through with it and got some help.  I'm not saying that everything is sunshine and roses with that now.  Far from it.  I'm in a constant struggle to be upbeat and to not hide in the apartment all day.  I long for the days when I didn't feel like this and knowing that I'll probably be dealing with this for the rest of my life is a daunting task, even with meds, therapy, journals, and you guys around for support.

The other things that happened, you already know about.  The unexpected death of my grandmother, the family dog almost dying, the stress of putting together a trip across the country within two weeks and figuring out finances and other sh*t....yeah, it sucked.  I doubt next year will be much better financially, but I certainly hope it won't get any worse than that.



Jess, I've read through this twice and prolonged responding because I didn't know what to say, hell, I still don't know what to say.
I am just glad you were able to battle through your adversity. I understand it will be long struggle but with the love of family, real
and here on-line, I am confident it will all work out.

Hey, at least the Phillies won the World Series :P 



The only real upside to the year, the Fightin' Phils, that feeling will last for awhile.  ;D

Good

I still have a job.  My Dad and I are closer than ever.  I reconnected with my cousin that I hadn't seen since I was 12.

Bad

Four year old cousin drowned back in May.  My Uncle died in Nov.

All in all 2008 could have been a lot worse.

My wish is that everyone's 2009 is filled with positive happenings.


My year of 2008:


Good

I was finally able to go to the doctor's and find out what was wrong with me, I started on meds and I have been feeling so much better.

I was successfully able to lose 50 pounds (and still counting), and I feel SO much better about myself.

I have become a LOT more confident and strong (inside and out)

I was able to get Vaughn to the doctor and put on some medication that is totally helping his ADHD in school and at home.

I have made some very close friendships/relationships with a few wonderful people this year, and I will forever be greatful for all they have done for me. It has literally changed the course of my life...and for that, I couldn't be happier.


Bad

I am still working at the same crap job (I am thankful that I at least HAVE a job), and seriously need a change in my life.

I really attempted to work on my marriage after my husband cheated on me last September, but it's just not working. I have done all I can....a person can only do SO much for someone else.

I have been having some real financial problems, and would love to someday get out of that mess.

We found out that my grandma has Alzheimer's,  and she seems to be getting worse each day. :(


I really hope that 2009 brings resolve to my life. I really need to be able to move on and be strong for myself and for Vaughn. That is my wish.

I really hope that 2009 brings resolve to my life. I really need to be able to move on and be strong for myself and for Vaughn. That is my wish.



Erin, I really hope you achieve all you wish for in the coming year, and that goes for everyone else also.  :)


2008 is ending as it began for me, one nightmare after another. I just returned from the hospital, I had to admit
my father for a few days so they can run some test to find out what is causing his lethargy and confusion. Good
news is, he didn't have another stroke and all his blood work, thus far, came out normal. A few more test and
we shall see, hopefully he'll be home by the weekend.

Erin, I really hope you achieve all you wish for in the coming year, and that goes for everyone else also.  :)


2008 is ending as it began for me, one nightmare after another. I just returned from the hospital, I had to admit
my father for a few days so they can run some test to find out what is causing his lethargy and confusion. Good
news is, he didn't have another stroke and all his blood work, thus far, came out normal. A few more test and
we shall see, hopefully he'll be home by the weekend.


sorry to hear about your father... hope all turns out okay.

sorry to hear about your father... hope all turns out okay.



Thanks Q, He will be coming home tomorrow. Turns out he has a MRSA infection in is right eye.

Thanks Q, He will be coming home tomorrow. Turns out he has a MRSA infection in is right eye.


GAH!  How the hell did he get that type of infection in his eye? :o

GAH!  How the hell did he get that type of infection in his eye? :o


We have no idea. What I don't understand is that they got the test results yesterday and they are sending him home today.
Why aren't they that concerned about it? I thought MRSA was the real bad type of infection, a superbug of sorts?

Thanks Q, He will be coming home tomorrow. Turns out he has a MRSA infection in is right eye.


glad he's coming home... sounds like a nasty infection tho.

We have no idea. What I don't understand is that they got the test results yesterday and they are sending him home today.
Why aren't they that concerned about it? I thought MRSA was the real bad type of infection, a superbug of sorts?



MRSA is nasty.  It can be treated, just with tons of antibiotics.  As long as he has the antibiotics, they probably figure he would be more comfortable at home.

MRSA is nasty.  It can be treated, just with tons of antibiotics.  As long as he has the antibiotics, they probably figure he would be more comfortable at home.


That is what they told us, comfort wise, he has eye drops we have to give him. They also said my wife and I need to have a nasal swab
because we handle him and that we also need to wear rubber glove and wash frequently when we do handle him. It still has me a little
paranoid though.

That is what they told us, comfort wise, he has eye drops we have to give him. They also said my wife and I need to have a nasal swab
because we handle him and that we also need to wear rubber glove and wash frequently when we do handle him. It still has me a little
paranoid though.


Take lots of care.  It is a bad infection.  I'll keep him (and you and your wife)  in my prayers. :)

We have no idea. What I don't understand is that they got the test results yesterday and they are sending him home today.
Why aren't they that concerned about it? I thought MRSA was the real bad type of infection, a superbug of sorts?

You are all in my prayers!!!!