Oh I so agree MZ. So much wisdom, so young. I know that I should said something in June about the raise, but I felt like the raise not being in my check was words enough said.

Communication is good. Also not worrying about what other people think. And most important love yourself. take care of your body, mind and spiritual self and all usually goes smoother.

My advice is pretty much the same as all of yours.  My parents struggled to raise my brothers and I, working 2-3 jobs at a time, and we've never been well off, but the love we all have and closeness we have is worth more than anything in the world.  I have friends who are much richer and can't stand their families. It's really heartbreaking. 

Life is what you make of it. 

I'm grateful every day I wake up and I'm still here.

Isn't that horn on the saddle for tying off kite string?

i have learned that what comes around goes around.  

i have learned "that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger is not always true, sometimes it just breaks us"

i have learned that if you have to make hard choices, always make the ones that allow you to look in the mirror with no shame.

i have learned that if you truly wish and pray for something hard enough, it just might happen. So don't waste your wishes and prayers on something vengeful, petty, or small.

JD-
You've gotten so profound today.  It reminds me of the movie Jerry Maguire where he eats some bad pizza and writes a mission statement.  But I like the profound JD.  Where did he come from??

I would have never have belived that 3 yrs ago CP. I so believed more $= less problems + more status. But you have got to earn that money, at the expense of the time it takes, and takes away from energy better directed at making sure the loved ones are ok on the inside, too.

3 yrs ago I was in an office making good money. But I was in that office until 10 pm pretty much 5 or 6 days a week. I love going to summerfest, and they had the shuttle pass by my window filled with people gettin ready to have a good time with their friends, to really live life that night. I couldn't go that year. I "HAD" to get my project done. It was then that I realized I was living my life wrong.   

You know what CP?  That is what ended one of the last arguements my wife and I had!  Our 13 year old asked us with the concerned angst that only a teenager can produce if we were splitting up.  We both stopped with blank stares and said, "What?  No!  Not at all!"  We then calmly laid out for her what the disagreement was over, and when we said it with cool heads, we realized how stupid it was.

Kids are magic, ain't they?  And don't be surprised by what they understand.  They are bombarded by reality everyday from many sources.  Tons of info and not a clue what to do with it.  That's where we step in and say, "My advice would be...."

I have been there 2 mz. Its cold comfort, but sometimes the only thing that got me through the rough spots was the thought that, well, 5 yrs from now all these problems will be long gone, I will have moved on to a whole new set of problems by then.....

I am sorry about the depression. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

Another thing I tried to do was to isolate a specific time of day for me to just review the bills, feel the anxiety, try and make sense of a plan of attack, and then put it away once the alloted time- 20 mins? was up.

Go outside, feel the sunshine. Have a nice cold drink. Know that when it comes to woes, you've got good & plenty of company.

I've got to make a request for the request this- this song by Blues Traveler "It Won't Mean A Thing IN a 100 yrs." Beatiful song with healing powers!