Life: crisis = chaos/opportunity

The timeline we're hoping for: remodel, deep clean, relaxed reorg of our stuff, house appraisal, birth of our child. The timeline we will get may be totally different. We just hope that the last item doesn't happen literally in the middle of any of the others. But we'll just have to wait and see.

On another note, why would we want to include tax breaks in a stimulus package for the economy? Tax breaks, if they're ever appropriate, would be appropriate when the government has the money to release, not at a time when the government needs, as the biggest player in the US financial arena, to jump into the breach by creating jobs, encouraging the building of infrastructure, supporting the housing market, etc. I seriously doubt that putting $500 into people's pockets in the form of tax breaks will help us create jobs, build roads, save mortgages from going under, etc. It's a ridiculous idea.

What a wild time. It's one thing to think that the idea of opportunity and chaos being the flip sides of the same thing is cool; it's another thing to experience the realities of crisis and to have the mental and psychological wherewithal to appreciate the opportunities with some degree of equanimity. I wish us all the best in this; there are many huge challenges being faced by individuals, companies, groups, and the country as a whole right now.

For me personally, one big challenge is to maintain my emotional equilibrium through changing and sometimes difficult circumstances. I'm trying to remember that whether or not the dining room is clean or the upstairs is finished with its remodel doesn't have to determine the experience I have in labor. But it's easy to get caught up in have-tos about what I feel must be done. I've learned that cultivating gratitude is a good remedy for stress and short-sightedness. Maybe I'll spend some time focusing on that this week.