New Year's Day

     Here I sit at my computer at noon on New Year's Day 2013.  Slept in today until 10AM, an unusual phenomenon. Thinking about walking a nearby outdoor labyrinth and therefore waiting  for the outdoor temperature  to rise to above 40 degrees.  Did some work for my job this AM--a few leftover cases that were going to bug me until they were done.  Today is a pretty typical New Year's Day.
     I am thinking about the year that was and the year to come.  Increasingly how my life plays out is framed by economic realities.  I can't just buy what I want and do what I want any more.  I have to save up for things I once just took for granted, and spending on impulse is a thing of the past.  It isn't like there aren't any options, but it means looking more creatively at the options, and considering options I would not have considered before.  Maybe this isn't a bad thing--in many ways it's a more authentic way of living. 
     This past year was actually one of much stability.  I am pleased to report I was in no car accidents, and actually at the moment have a safe driver rating with our car insurance company.  Michael's car accidents were far less dramatic than in the past, although we had a couple incidents of parking lot scrapes of fancy cars which have pushed our semi annual car insurance premium over $2000.00.  The grace in this is that we have really good car insurance, and they have not refused to insure us.   My contract at work went from its third to fourth year. Rumblings are still faint about a cliff we're edging out on--in 2014 we'll either take off and soar for another five years of the Maryland Public Sector Contract, this time with Substance Abuse as well as Behavioral Health, or we'll crash into the abyss of lay offs and job searches.  But either way, 2012 could be considered the "Good Old Days".  Michael and I continued to fight with the health insurance about every single one of Michael's claims (how many ways can you say "no I don't have Medicare Part B"???) but I remained healthy.  Right now we have some residual anxiety about getting into my company's brand new HMO--our choices were Kaiser, Kaiser, or Kaiser, and none of  the  Kaisers included Michael's doctors so we went with the cheapest one.  IF they will let Michael in.  We sorta technically don't have health insurance today. Thank goodness Michael is stabilized on meds and has put in as large a supply of them as the old insurance would allow.  My involvement in church remained the same, stepped down as diocesan delegate but remained the VP of region V until council January 2013.  Went back into active status with sorority, which has been nice although I would not rule out a future leave of absence.  The Derecho brought a bit of excitement in June, but our damage was minimal and the power never went out.
     The coming year has built into it some self inflicted instability as well as fertile ground for the unanticipated.  I am already thinking about Lent and Epiphany hasn't even occurred yet.  My priest is going on sabbatical during Lent and not returning until Pentecost Sunday.  This is a very good thing for him and the congregation is in a good place for this to happen, but it has brought to light some old hurts and vulnerabilities for me from previous experiences with a priestly sabbatical.  I look forward to Lent this year as a chance to work this out. Since Kingdomtide as extended Advent beginning Nov 1 worked well in 2012 it makes a good model for 2013, barring unforeseen circumstances.  At work we will be gearing up for January to August 2014 which will be our opportunity to prove to MHA that we are worthy of the new contract and can handle the addition of addictions treatment--I suspect some of my co workers won't want to stick around but I'm game so long as I can work in Reston.  If work took a lot of my energy before it will take even more now, and that is without considering that the changes to CPT codes and the DSM V roll out in May.
     Who knows what kind of destructive weather phenomena will occur?  Who knows what kind of fiscal cliffs will loom? (fiscal cliff is all the news media talk right now)  Who knows what kind of bizarre and terrifying incident will happen in a public place facilitated by guns, bombs, evil, and/or untreated mental illness? What war will we get ourselves involved in this time around? Who or what will be born?  Who or what will die?  Flexibility is key.    Being realistic and planning ahead is also key.  But my father's advice rings quite true."Don't borrow trouble, or you will pay exhorbinant interest rates."  These days, I'm not even sure I qualify for the loan, and I  am not willing to pay unattractive rates.  Every morning we are blessed with a beautiful sunrise and every evening with a beautiful sunset.  Life goes on, one way or the other.