A.C.A.S.

My husband has passed the test needed to become an Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society!!!

If you don't know what that is, you are completely normal.

I, on the other hand, never claimed to be normal. 

And I am super excited!!!  Honestly folks, this is a major deal around here and we are celebrating big time!!!

The Answers And Peace That I Need

As I stared at a blank screen for the longest time, I went back to view my blog and found a new comment on my last post.  The comment was from Loretta and it got me out of my funk and into finally writing this post that really I guess I have just been avoiding and yet I so need to write.

So I'll start with this:  Christmas was probably the best one we have had around here in at least a few years.  There was no family drama requiring a visit from the sheriff- Ha!  We were blessed to get our gifts early in the form of our fun new puppy and our Palm Springs condo.  I even took a chance and told Santa about how much I want to move to Texas.  He made no promises, but hey it never hurts to try!  We also received some of the best surprise news that we could ever have gotten when we found out that my husband passed his latest actuarial exam- which we were totally NOT expecting.  Yes, one of those exams that require study of at least 300 hours of stuff like this:

With the passage of this particular exam, it puts my husband in a very good position to be a real live actuary by November of this year!!!!!!  We never thought he would pass so quickly as this exam is one many people get stuck on and take over and over.  And really, he just didn't have a good feeling about it.  What a fabulous and welcome surprise.  This also means that as soon as he gets his credential, I will get to start those pilot lessons I've said that I am meaning to take!

So many wonderful things....  My heart is just full of thankfulness.  I can't believe how blessed we are during such a time of turmoil all around us- in the world, in our country and right here at home.

You see, I don't want to seem ungrateful.  I strive to be content and yet grow in life.  I know we ought not dwell on the things that are not as we would like and that many things are out of our control as human beings. 

And yet some things are too big to ignore. 

My sister is still in jail.  I have discovered that she is in need of more help and rehabilitation than I ever imagined.  She is addicted to every form of bad behavior and wrong choice that there is.  She is a very sad and sick person that has destroyed so much for so many.

She has been offered a combination of incarceration/rehab/work release of 3 years and is otherwise facing 5-10 years in prison.  She still believes she can somehow 'beat the system' and has refused the 3 year deal.

I am trying hard to swallow the fact that I actually agree with her in that she should not take the 3 year deal.  I don't think she should take it because I feel that she needs a lot LONGER in custody to keep society at large safe and to give herself any chance at all of actually changing her life for the better.

I can't help feeling like a big ol' bitch of an older sister who has so much in this life and yet would wish her little sister such a tough row to hoe.  I don't mean it that way and I know in my heart that people understand that. 

I need to look at this as an opportunity to expand my vision of what positive change can be. 

And I will. 

In time, I will accept whatever is meant to be for my sister and I will put it all into proper perspective as soon as my heart allows. 

Image found at: posterenvy.com

Thanks... And Still Working Hard

Many thanks to those of you who felt compelled to comment on my last post about coming out of the political closet, so to speak.  I really appreciate your honesty and willingness to 'put it out there'.  It does my heart good to know that I am not alone, even out here on the left coast...

Common sense must reign, I say!

I also wanted to give a bit of an update about my husband, concerning his abdominal rebuild that he had back in May. 

Never fear.  I am excited to say that there is no bad news at all!   

You may recall having seen these amazing pictures!  We still can't believe how much more 'normal' he looks!

As the months have gone by everything has gone as it should.  However, that doesn't mean that everything is easy for him.  This has been a long and strenuous road with still more to go.  He's about 90 days out and is now having to really stretch and learn to use the muscles with the way they have been changed and re-purposed because basically some of his oblique muscles were completely moved and integrated into his abdominals. 

Up to this point he has been in a binding garment almost 24/7 to protect the work that was done and allow for healing.  Now my husband has to start the process of letting his muscles relearn how to be strong for his core.  It is a tough and painful process leaving him feeling sore on most days.

But this is all just one more step in the process and we are grateful to be doing this work.  It will be worth it.  I see those commercials with the vets coming back from war severely injured and I can't help but think that this is really nothing compared to all that.  And yet, it is hard for me to watch my husband struggle through this process.

It all goes to show again that anything worth having takes a lot of hard work to get to.  It seems these days this poor guy is always working hard towards something- whether it's all those hours of study and testing to become an actuary or working super hard to just have a normally functioning body, this guy sure could use a break!  I am so looking forward to watching my husband transition from hard work to more wonderful results and I know it's going to happen for him!

Things Could Get Interesting...

As my husband and I have been chugging towards moving on with our big scheme, he has just finished up with the first preliminary step of taking yet another of his oh so fun and grueling actuarial exams.  Meanwhile, I've been keeping myself preoccupied with helping my neighbor redo her bedroom while her husband is away on business.  We were dorks and didn't take a before picture, but the results are a-maz-ing!

I find it's definitely better to do something to get your mind off the actuarial exam even when you're not the one taking it.  Those suckers are harsh.  They just are.  I found an article on line about how this whole actuarial exam process effects even the spouse of the actuarial student and I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry about how accurate the observations of the writer (another actuarial student) were.  A kind of super scary roller coaster interrupted by mass repetition of mathematical formulas and bad governmental regulations with a very short time constraint dropped into the mix.  FUN!

So leading up to this sitting for the exam and keeping in mind that my husband is having major surgery next week, he had told the 2 recruiters that have been helping to set us up with contacts that he would be concentrating on studying for his test and wouldn't be available for any job stuff until after the test.  That was a few months back.  Sure enough, an email came through yesterday from 1 of the recruiters with a time stamp that indicated that it was sent during the time my husband was taking his test.  The email indicates that there is an intriguing opportunity in Dallas, TX. 

After some research on the company, my husband plans to answer the email with interest in this opportunity while trying to temper that with some careful sidestepping of the fact that he will be completely out of commission for a bit here during the initial recovery from his surgery.  And yet we don't want to put these people off for too long. 

I see phone interviews from the couch in the near future...