Cheer #3

                      The struggle is real.

 You see it everywhere. "I already used my free drink on my Starbucks card, and I'm broke until tomorrow. The struggle is real" Honestly it would be nice to have a "Struggle" like that. If you don't already know, I'm 22, with two kids. My husband is medically retired from the military, and i just lost my job. So for me, the struggle is usually all too real. 

 If you don't know how retirement works, you get a chunk of money at the beginning of the month, that is supposed to last you the whole month. How? That's a good question. We get just under 2,000 a month, and somehow, we have to manage to buy, diapers, pull ups, formula, food, gas, and all our bills. Usually, we're broke a few days into the month. 

 When we first got here from Tennessee, Jordan got a really nice job, we were doing really good for a while. Unfortunately he was let go. Through no fault of his own. For a while, things started to get really hard again. I got my last job, and was so excited, until the hours just weren't there. It was supposed to help, it didn't. 

 Now please understand, this is in no way a pity party. I'm not looking for sympathy, or handouts, it's just part of a bigger story. We all know I lost my job, and I'm currently looking for a new one. Let's all hope I get the nice paying one at Aldi. I was really worried, that everything was going to go down hill again. How were we going to make it now? 

 I stress, a lot. It's a problem. I usually dread pay day, because there never seems to be enough. I count money after every transaction, add, subtract, count, stress. It's taxing, I'm usually extremely frazzled and upset after the spending it done. I know it drives my poor husband nuts. He's always so patient with me though. This month, however, things are different. 

 This month, we didn't have a million and one things that we needed to put large sums of money into for one reason or another. This month, I still get one last paycheck from Zumiez, and it was a week I actually worked. This month we managed to get everything and still have some money. This month, money worked out in our favor. 

 So today, my CHEERS! goes to...The Struggle. It goes to the Struggle, because it keeps you humble. When you're finally not struggling, it makes everything so much nicer. You appreciate the fact that you're not trying to decide if you need diapers more, or food more. Struggling makes you appreciate the little things. And I do. 

Until next time,
Angel.