Back on track.

What am I grateful for today?

1) My day job. It's fairly unrewarding, but it's stable. It has a pension and a huge union to fight for the small cost of living raises we get every so often. Some of the people are pretty cool, and most of the rest are OK to work with. I know there isn't much chance of advancement, but that is the cost of doing things "low risk." Its stability and structure has allowed me the opportunities to move to a new city, to buy a house, and to start paying off my debt. I'm not there yet, and my new prospect will hopefully help pave the way to a debt free life, but I'm lucky that I have the income that I do, and the future with this career.

2) That my dad's doctors are confident he can move ahead toward a surgery he desperately needs. We are all scared of what will happen if the doctors ever say "no", and while it is frustrating when they say "not yet," I'm still grateful that it wasn't a denial. He has a lot of work to do, and he is as stubborn as a mule, but if enough people get it into his head that he really can do this, then the work will get done so he can get the surgery and be healthy to see his grandkids graduate college and get married (if they wish).

3) Health insurance. Because without it, I would most likely be without my hand, and possibly without my life. I spent months in pain and not getting it checked out because I didn't have health insurance. I was a college grad working retail part time, and figured it was just carpal tunnel, so I bought a brace and went back to work. It got worse and worse, but I didn't have the money for testing and xrays. When I got this job, ny first checkup was on my wrist. That is when I was diagnosed with a rare form of bone sarcoma. I was lucky to have the insurance I did, because it paid for a second opinion with a world class surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC. Without Dr. Athanasian, the tumor may have been too much to handle, and I may have lost feeling and/or function in my hand, or worse, the hand itself. Without health insurance, I might not have caught the cancer before it metastasized to my lungs (which is very fast and common with that type of sarcoma), which could have killed me. I've been generally healthy since then, but am still grateful for my insurance every time I see a bill or explanation of benefits for myself or my family.