so it's like this...

{source}

andrea's post got me thinking.

envy & jealousy have once again reared their ugly heads {i'm totally convinced they are in cahoots with that witch, aunt flo}. i'm honestly not sure why because i am happy. my life is certainly far from perfect at the moment, but content is - indeed - a great word to describe me.

i suppose some of the coveting & yearning comes from the fact that i'm not at the level of certain people. i probably won't ever be. no, scratch that, i know i won't ever be. why? because that's not who i am.

money seems so disposable, doesn't it? well, maybe if you have a crap ton of it. when you're making it work on one income, you come to realize that money is precious. it seems frivolous to spend it on mortgage-priced purses and designer shoes {that will give you designer blisters}. but, do i still want those things? you're damn right i do.

why? 

because i'm human and being envious is part of human nature. but, i know that it's not good to covet. i should be happy with what i have . . . and i am.

if there is something i've learned over the last few years, it's that less really is more. my life may seem like a struggle from time to time {because, let's face it, folks, we're currently living the life we should have been living ten years ago*}, but i've never been happier. my children are getting more of me {and their father, too, for that matter} than they've ever had. we're more of a "family-centered family" instead of a "keeping up with the joneses-centered family." 

*my life is certainly NOT where i pictured it to be. i had a clear vision of how i wanted things to be by the time i hit my mid-thirties. never, ever did i expect to be in grad school, living off a single-income, still paying off debt . . . all the while rooting on my husband who closed a painful chapter in his life & is moving on with honor & integrity {oh, that's so coach wade of me!}.

money doesn't buy happiness. i've seen first hand that money really is the root of all evil. alas, money does make the world go 'round. and, i will always fight off fits of jealousy and urges of "want, want, want."

while my life isn't where it should be, it's certainly getting there. and, here's a refreshing though, i bet there are more people out there who can relate to MY kind of life than there are people who can't.  i also know, too, that somewhere out there somebody might even be jealous of me.