Sacrifice?

So you do what you've got to do. Sacrifice. Quit a job you love. Give up one car. Move. Downsize. When lightning strikes the air conditioner, don't replace it. Rework the budget. Rework it again. And again. Shop at Goodwill and on freecycle and on the curb. Sacrifice. You give up. But giving up isn't defeat. The things you give up are the first steps on this path you are trepidatiously treading with all of the courage and love you can muster. You wonder if you are strong enough.

Maybe you need someplace to keep the baby's clothes and diapers and you walk out of the Salvation Army store fighting back the tears because even there the furniture was so beyond your budget and that experience was so beyond your hormonal coping abilities. The next day you drive past a dresser on the curb that is old but solid and your rejoicing is divine! And you treasure it. And your baby grows into a five year old who organizes her things in the drawers so precisely. She is going to take that dresser with her when she runs away to New York City. She told you so. Maybe she will let you know when she is going so you can help her move it? Solid wood is heavy. She says that you can move it together; you're both pretty strong. And you are.