Well, today was a different day. My wife took the day off so she could work… if that makes sense. She was getting behind on grading papers (really, I haven’t seen her for over a week or so because of this!). My daughter is also home sick today.
Last night, a friend of ours died so my wife went over to be with the family, and today she may do so again. My daughter is on the couch, coughing, clinging to a box of tissues and watching TV. This sort of leaves me alone, but with people in the house – all three of us are doing our own thing. At least my wife and I had a nice lunch out together. It felt like a date.
Some things are happening at our church right now – we currently lack a full-time pastor – so “fixing things” (restoring/maintaining harmony) has occupied much of my time this week. As of yesterday, with the latest fire, my wife has also gotten involved. As leaders in the church, it’s time we did something – It’s time we sprang into action! I started “springing” on Monday, but man, I’ve been beat up a lot this week, and there’s more on the way. My wife is now very zealous and is trying to motivate the rest of the leadership to step up. I hope she succeeds. I’m weary, and not in the best mental state to lead a charge right now, but charge we must for the sake of the church and the cause of Christ.
Today was also the last day I could trade my options online. Since the Dow was edging up to 12K today, it was largely a flat day – the stock market likes to hover around big, round numbers for a week or so before deciding on a new direction. It’s unfortunate that I won’t see a rapid rise with my options – Sigh, I’m out of time – but if I can get the cash into other stocks before the market settles on a direction; a positive direction in my estimation, then I might just make a buck or two. It just killed me to watch my options waffle +/- 25 cents all day… which represents a swing of $5K in cash – roughly two month’s “burn rate” or a really nice 3 week vacation for two somewhere in real terms. I sold at the midpoint of the day – basically the opening price – but around $1.50 off of last week’s peak. Now I almost feel obligated to “make up” for the $30K I “lost” over the last week. In truth, I lost nothing, but have gained a small fortune (It was a banner day: I sold $538K in company stock with a small portion of that being the option amount that I get to keep. Sheesh!, the full amount of the company stock is about what my house is worth! I’ll probably never move that kind of money again – with the single push of a button no less!). I am VERY thankful that I even have to concern myself with all this, as very few people even get stock options. In the last four months, these options have allowed me to buy a really nice car, put solar panels on my house, and now, provide cash to live on for approximately three years. I am truly blessed!
Day 25 mood: Grateful, grateful, grateful! God is good, and I’ve been blessed beyond measure.