Stressed, yes but others are in more dire need...

Good developments and a frustrating conversation sum up the past few days. After my last conversation with Mom I had to take a break and have not called her for 3 days now. It's hard but I keep myself busy with household chores to make the time go by faster. For a couple of days when I called she had company; it was a relief to play second fiddle! She had someone to talk with other than me; the more the better. I can always call back. When I did call back, we had a frustrating conversation. She kept bringing up reasons why she HAD to move back home. There was no reasoning with her so I finally just got in a few "uh-hu"s then told her that I had to run and we'd discuss it on my next trip in May.

Other things have me stressed out as well - Dan wants to move to Florida for the dead of winter where I fear my storm-related migraines will become more frequent. My sister-in-law has offered to take Mom to the bank and I fear she'll hit Mom up for money and I am having NO luck in my own job search. I need to make the time to meditate and exercise so I can understand which of these I can impact and how I can protect Mom and do what's best for me at the same time. Whew!..deep breath... Things could be far worse. I've been in touch with a classmate who has far greater worries than my own. He's a single father of 4, two high school age boys and two younger kids with special needs. His ex-wife is not in the picture and he was diagnosed with cancer before the end of 2008. His worries are simple: he wants to survive for his kids. Money, possessions, location, none of it matters; he just wants to be here. I will pray for his health, wish him the best and be thankful that I'm capable of worrying about others right now because that means I'm doing alright.