Reflecting

Ok, I'm feeling better than this morning. Lunch was fun. I have been mildly busy today, but not crazy-busy. And best of all, the time is drawing near for my birthday dinner! So on that note, I'm going to try and do what I wanted to do earlier but wasn't in the mood. So here it is and i've changed it up a bit; now it is going to be the Top 10 Major Accomplishments of My Life So Far:

1. Making it through high school without killing myself or any of my h.s. boyfriend's whores with whom he cheated consistently.
2. Graduating from college. -- this was evidently such a miracle that I still TO THIS DAY have major stress dreams about it. The recurring theme is finding out I did not really graduate, that I have like 12 hours to go, and fearing that my job is going to find out and fire me. Love-ly. And people, it really wasn't a close call or anything, so I don't get why this one lingers on...and on...and on........will it ever go away???
3. Graduating from college with a "real" job lined up -- a major coup, especially since I didn't have any idea what I wanted to "be" until maybe the 2nd semester of my senior year. I also remember that at graduation, so many of my fellow journalism majors were griping about how they couldn't find jobs, how they were going to move in w/their parents and "take a break" for a while. Major coup, I'll say it again.
4. Surviving a very bad marriage and coming out of it better than I went in.
5. Supporting myself and my ex-husband -- as much as I hated it, it was good to know it was possible.
6. Supporting myself for all these years -- with only the one hiccup, the year of unemployment, when I needed financial help from my parents -- and I didn't lose my house or totally ruin my credit, either. Amazing.
7. Buying my own house. -- Never even occurred to me that I'd be doing this alone, but it seemed like a good idea when I was 30, and has proven to be a great idea, in fact.
8. Successfully switching careers midstream -- this was tricky and took two tries before it "took", but here I am, a copywriter and not a technical writer! A few years ago I didn't see how this would ever be possible, but it was. Yay!
9. Digging myself out of debt -- this is a huge undertaking, and is still in process; but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and when it's finished I will feel such an awesome sense of relief that I can't even imagine it -- life after debt.
and
10. Creating a life for myself unlike the life I always pictured for myself -- and having this life be "okay". More than okay, actually -- I've created a life where I will be happy even if I never meet the right guy and settle down or even have kids. I know I will be okay, no matter what.

There it is. 35 is not so bad after all.