What a Difference a Year Makes!

Wow. It's been a year. Literally one year. What a difference one year makes. My life is completely different right now. Makes me a little bit anxious of where I'll be five years from now if the ins and outs of my life have so dramatically changed in just one.

Where to begin. How about what my life was like one year ago vs. what it's like now.

1 year ago: I was a SAHM
Now: I am a full-time Marketing Manager working outside of my home

1 year ago: I was collecting unemployment
Now: I have a paycheck

1 year ago: We obviously had some financial issues
Now: Well, unfortunately some things take longer than one year to change

1 year ago: My house was clean and organized
Now: My house is chaotic, so much so that I actually woke up last week at 4:40am for my boot camp class and ended up going back to bed b/c I couldn't find my tennis shoes...frustrating!

1 year ago: My weekends were spent having QT with my husband and kids and our families
Now: My weekends are spent doing grocery shopping, laundry and preparing for the week ahead, ironic??

1 year ago: If my child woke up with a fever or came down with a virus, all I had to do was cancel our plans for the day.
Now: If I have a sick child I have to ask my boss if I can work from home (thank God this is an option for me) and worry about if he thinks I'm out of the office too much with my sick children

1 year ago: I was in charge of my day. If I wasn't feeling particularly well, I had the power to structure our day accordingly
Now: I have office hours and they are mandatory

1 year ago: I was closer with my friends. We got together for play dates, we vented online to each other, we texted each other with spontaneous invitations
Now: They all still do that and I'm a bit out of the loop

1 year ago: My daughter was about to start 3-year old preschool
Now: My daughter is about to start 4-year old preschool and it's literally taking a village to get her there. I've had to change my work schedule, rely on a friend, change daycare's schedule, change my in-laws schedule...all to make sure my daughter is prepared for Kindergarten.

1 year ago: Thinking ahead gave me a headache and caused many tears because of our financial situation
Now: Same. Only add the stress of "what am I going to do when I have two kids in different schools?" to that.

Am I lucky to have a job? Absolutely. Do I like my job? Yes. Do I like feeling like my week is straight out of Groundhog Day? No. Do I like that it's takes a willing cast of characters to make the simplest of things happen for my kids? Absolutely not. Do I think I'm happy? I'm actually not quite sure. Venting is good. That's what this is. It's Monday. I'll be in a better mood by Thursday I would imagine.