A Life of My Own

So my wonderful (genuine) mother-in-law text my spouse a few weeks ago asking if she could host something for my birthday.  I have a ton of anxiety around such things, so I talked it over with the spouse and decided to go ahead.  It turned out wonderfully. The venue changed to a smaller one after I had invited several people, but it worked out perfectly. The youngest kids made friends so fast that the homebody Taurus toddler started crying and asking when they're coming back the moment she was told they needed to leave.  I didn't drink, which surprised nobody, but all of the adults my own age and older, as well as two who are younger, brought me gifts, which I definitely didn't expect.  We got home after 10, which doesn't sound late, but I'm usually in bed by 8. MIL made chile rellenos, and some of the siblings were actually fighting over them at the end.  I may have snuck out a plate of them and still have two left, but I'm not sorry about it at all...

The last few weeks have been absolutely wild, and I'm super grateful.  I'm pretty sure our delivery drivers are about done with us after the 13 (I think) packages we received today. Definitely need to set up one of those "take a drink and a snack" stands at this point.  We did get some sad news today. We're ready to close on our first home, after some minor repairs, and today we got a call from our agent- the seller passed away. This feels heartbreaking in a way I couldn't have anticipated. We never met her. She built this home, and was one of the first in the neighborhood to do so. Two of our neighbors consider her a friend.  We have been assured that she made it very clear that she wants us to have this home. I can't even process that statement. I have multiple first degree relatives who wouldn't have put forward that much effort on my behalf, but someone who has never met me has instructed her next of kin that this house is meant for us.  I got my w...

October and November were disappointing months, and we lost a family member we loved dearly in November. Her presence is missed greatly, and I'm pretty sure I still haven't processed it. Thanksgiving was a little too close to the (sarcastic:) good ol days of my childhood. While we weren't directly involved in any of it, we ultimately ended up being mediators and, now, visitation supervisors. That actually makes it sound less dramatic and horrible than it was at the time.  December, on the other hand, has been a flurry of activity and good news. We have been extremely busy, and are in the early to mid stages of buying a home. I also received my increase in income and benefits I've alluded to, including more than a full year of backpay, and roughly doubling my monthly income.  Everything has been moving so fast, I don't think any of this has had sufficient time to process into my brain. I keep looking at my bank account just to see the numbers still sitting there- thi...

Partner's family planned a "costumes mandatory" Halloween party this year, then canceled it last minute, without even really telling everyone. We had initially struggled to find a costume for Partner, but ultimately found one that is just absolutely fantastic. I'm a little sad we haven't gotten to use it yet, but it will definitely be used next year, at the latest.  We had invited my cousins that live within driving distance, as well as one of my favorite people, D and her new-ish partner, M, who I was extremely excited to meet. M's first language is Spanish, so he would've felt right at home in our trilingual family gathering.  Halloween night, a Thursday this year, turned out really great, anyway. Partner and I scheduled entirely too many medical things this past week, and were basically both running on limited duty type functionality, and our roommate LB was out of town, on top of it, so we were just figuring it out.  We ran a few easier errands during ...

My father-in-law asked us to go to a local reservation's annual powwow, and I'm so glad he did.  I wore orange to pay tribute to the survivors and victims of the residential schools, but I was surprised to find that I was the only one. My partner told me afterwards he'd overheard a few compliments about it- and maybe he's lying and being nice, but my hearing sucks, so it's more than possible.  It was kind of fun getting to help FIL understand what he was seeing at different booths, since his vision is mostly gone these days. His lack of filter got a few laughs out of me, but he's doing much better about letting people know he's not being rude, he's just trying to see them. There was one woman with beautiful neon red hair that he was staring at from maybe three feet away. He hadn't said anything to her, so I laughed and asked him "you can see her hair, can't you?" And he was so excited, he said "YES! IT'S AWESOME!" and she ...

Two of our closest  friends are getting married. They've been together for nearly 15 years, and have two amazing children together. Calling them friends will never encompass what they really are to us. It's not an exaggeration to say we're closer to them than to either of our families. My in-laws are some of my favorite people, so that is a pretty high bar.  Today, I had the opportunity to take the bride to pick out a wedding perfume. It was my idea to buy this for her, and I was surprised by how excited she was about it. She had her youngest child with her, who's a brilliant, funny and independent three year old.  We spent four hours looking for the right perfume, and fought off many, many, M A N Y sales associates. (I'm never going into another Dillard's as long as I live- we literally snuck out of there while being pursued by sales people!) My disabilities have prevented me from doing something like this for a long time. My partner didn't join...