It is early morning and I have my cup of coffee, so it is a good time to sit back to reflect on the past year, along with my birthday wishes for the next year. I may not have been sharing these meanderings, but fortunately Dale Barker was kind enough to remind me to create a post for the Texas Birthday Group.
Having a birthday close to Thanksgiving has always placed me in a mood to consider what I am thankful for on this day. It may be easy to take a negative outlook though. I am still dealing with repairs to my home due to Hurricane Ike; business is not great; my stock portfolio seems non-existent; and I could go on. However, it is important to note that all of those concerns are temporary.
My wife has presented me with the most wonderful gift recently: the birth of a healthy baby girl, Sakura Erika (ten days ago). Why a Japanese first name? My son has a friend with this name, which means cherry blossom, and he thinks it a beautiful name. My two and half year old daughter, Katya, has been running around the house trying to help us with the newest member. My favorite moment is when I explained to her that the baby was hungry. She ran off to bring me all of the items my wife surrounds herself with when breastfeeding. Ok Papa, ready? It was an experience explaining that I did not have that capability. After finishing with work on Sunday morning, I spent the afternoon in the park with my son and toddler. That was a great gift to watch a teenager and toddler playing. I am ever so grateful for my family.
I have not been Active in the Rain recently, but I am thankful for this community. A little over a week ago, I encouraged a newly minted home inspector to come to this site. It has taught me so much, and I have made many great connections here, but, yes, it is not really part of my business plan at this time. This space has been the best ground to develop various skills, and I feel that there is more to learn here, so I cannot see fully giving up on this community. I just have to cut back to look at the broader picture.
I am thankful for my life, and the fact that I am in the business that I am in. I worked for years in a job where I could not be part of family events, or to see friends. I worked sixty or more hours a week as a senior manager, but I felt that my efforts were not providing me with the life that I wanted. Sure the home inspection profession has not been great, but I am making ends meet, and I have been pursuing paths to improve this work in these trying times. The challenges encountered are actually fun. Finding new ways to make it last and grow in difficult periods is a joy. We will see what happens in the coming year, but it will be good.
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