Eric Holen

Today, Yvette, her mom and I spent the day hunting down and buying school supplies for one of Yvette’s co-workers. It was interesting for me on two levels. First, last year I spent a day with two young girls getting them school supplies while their mom was away on a trip and their dad was laid up at home due to a cardiac condition. Second, it reminded me of the financial struggles I went through during my first marriage.

Yvette had found out that one of her co-workers, a mother of two, was depressed because she didn’t know how she could afford school supplies for her two children. Yvette took it upon herself that she and I would purchase most of the school supplies for the two children. I didn’t have any augments since we do not have children of our own and after having bought (and reimbursed for) school supplies the previous year, I know how quickly they could add up.

I remember the financial struggles I went through during my first marriage. At that time, our local supermarket would not run your credit card unless you charged more than $25. So my then wife and I would make several passes through the supermarket charging just under the limit to ensure that we had food to feed ourselves and our daughter Megan.

While I have some of the worst buyer’s remorse, I did not have any problems spending money on school supplies. Even Yvette’s mom jumped in and bought some supplies on her limited budget. It was nice to be able to give back and give thanks for what we have been blessed with.

• A blog post by Zak White on goals has got me thinking differently on how I want to tackle 2010. More to come while I think about turning my resolutions into goals.
• Had alot of fun babysitting Wyatt this past weekend, but wish it had occured for different reasons.
• Excited that Sarah, my super smart sister, actually called me for advice. She is considering buying a house and wanted my input.
• Extremely happy with changes that Yvette is trying to make in her life. I am here to support her.
• Actually looking forward to our carpets getting professionally cleaned on Saturday. The first time since we moved in over six years ago. All of the previous times involved Yvette, me and the Rug Doctor.
• Also looking forward to getting new furniture delivered on Saturday. I can’t share why yet (it’s not a child), but be patient until April for the news.
• One of my goals (see the first bullet) is to get off my behind and work towards my graduate degree. Next week I get to drag Yvette to an orientation at the University of Texas. I am hoping that she’ll want to start going back to school too.
• This past weekend, I managed to run on 3 or 4 fire calls including a small structure fire. That’s more calls than I had run the previous month. I forgot how much fun I have, just need to set aside time to run more calls.
• Looking forward to this Sunday when Larissa and Justin Ely drag Yvette and I to their church for a tryout.
• Had a relaxing three days off, but not happy that I chose to be lazy instead of pulling down the Christmas lights.
• Excited that I am going to be able to catch up to my best friend who I haven’t seen or spoken with since my wedding, 13 years ago. I tracked him down through his mom on Facebook.
• Just plain happy to be able to blog my thoughts today.
• Also pleased that today, which tends to be one of the busiest days in our Tele-Centers all year long, has not been that bad.

I love my job and the challenges that it brings.  Systems analyst, project manager, problem solver; yes, that’s all me.  Over the last two weeks, the workload has ratcheted way up.  Stressful?  Yes!  Exiting?  Yes!  Adding to the challenge is that I am also working with others on the annual budget for our volunteer fire department.

Today, I am actually blogging so that I can force myself to take a lunch instead of working through it.

There is a finish line ahead, at least today.  But as some projects role off, there will be others waiting to start that keep pushing that finish line out even farther.  As a project manager I take pleasure in being able to “close” down something that I have finished and moving on to the next item.

I thank God that I have a job, when so many people do not, and that it is one that a enjoy doing everyday.