S/O of "If I knew then thread"

Sorry for those who don't like me talking about medical stuff but this is my life...

1. Fighting to get ds's CVL line pulled and him off TPN. In my mom gut I knew it was the right choice. And it was. He is thriving without it. I have several top doctors tell me I would kill him...but the TPN was doing that on its own. I am 99.9% sure ds wouldn't be here if his line was kept in.

2. Fighting to get dd seen by another genetics counselor. After 6 years and 6 or 7 teams, we got a diagnosis that explained everything medically going on.

3. Deciding to be a SAHM when dd was a baby. Who knew it was the right choice and I would be very much needed to care for ds' medical needs and eventually dd's medical needs.

23 year old me chose a really good husband.

I am so glad that I put money into a 403b when I was young. I was someone who regularly increased my contributions. There were times I expected a decent raise only for my paycheck to go up $10. I would take that entire untaxed raise and put it in my 403b because it was the only way I could keep all of my raise. When I was done paying for daycare, I increased it significantly. We put $ in Roth accounts as well. I invested enough $ that I always needed to get paid on pay day. I am going to be able to retire after this school year. I always talk to my new coworkers about how easy it is to set up a 403b account. 

I married a good guy too. He thinks I'm the greatest thing ever and we have a lot of fun together. 

I didn't want to get a dog. I now have two dogs that I love so much. I'm glad I allowed myself to be talked into that. 

The single best decision I ever made was because I got turned down for a summer job. I was just sure I was going to get this summer teller job at the local bank and I didn't. I didn't want anymore rejection so I decided to go on to college during the summer. I loved summer school so much, I quickly figured out that if I went the next 2 summers, I could get my BA a year early. My last semester, I did an internship at a great company where I would work for the the next 14 years and eventually meet my current husband. Working there was the best career experience I ever had. I also met my best friend working there and got many opportunities to travel and learn skills for future work. However, it would not have happened if I had taken 4 years to finish college instead of 3. They weren't hiring at all the year I should have finished.

So losing a job in high school really changed my life.

I was very career (trust investment officer) oriented and didn't really want to marry and/or have children.

When I was 36, the bank wanted to send me to SF for a bond closing, I'm so glad I accepted. It was on that trip that my sister invited a fellow real estate agent over for dinner. This year we will celebrate 38 years of marriage and one son.

I am glad that when I was almost done with my finance degree I took an art class. I then added an art major, with no plan.

I worked in business a few years and then for some reason I got it in my head to be an art teacher.

I didn't have any concept of what being an art teacher actually involved, I just pulled it out of thin air. It took me another 2.5 years (on top of my two bachelor degrees) to get certification.

This year will be my 29th year of teaching. It turned out to be the job that is perfect for my personality, my interests, my ADHD, my bipolar disorder, my childlessness, my financial needs, my benefits, my retirement, etc. I have no idea how I accidently picked something that perfectly fits me.

This is exactly me

I opted to go to community college for the first two years to get my general classes out of the way, then transferred to a four year university. Back then my classes were $20/credit and I eventually graduated from my four year university debt free. At the time I was really jealous of friends who lived in dorms, who moved away from home, and who got to have the “college experience.” But adult me is so thrilled I managed to get through my early 20s debt free, and my only debt now in my mid-30s is my mortgage.

I'm not sure anyone would have guessed that Dh and I would fall in love and create a really fantastic life. We are different in many ways, but so very aligned in other aspects.

We carefully planned our work and worked our plan. We have a great son, we retired early, and are in a position to do as we please. I think he is a keeper, and he thinks I am.

Well I lucked into my husband. As I mentioned in another thread, we started dating in high school and married without a lot of thought. But we are so good for each other and he is a great husband and father. He truly loves and cares for us.  ETA that said we had some HARD years when we were young parents.  But we made it through and things are awesome now, not perfect as nothing is, but we are loving life right now for the most part.  

Similar with my job. It's not perfect, but considering where else I could have ended up, it's been great in allowing me to take care of my dd's health needs. Both in time off, support from my employer/coworkers, and excellent health insurance.

As far as parenting, I'm glad we didn't have a child really young, despite marrying young. We married at 20 and had dd at 28, after I finished college. We were encouraged to start a family sooner, but we waited. We would not have been ready at a younger age. It's been wonderful but so much harder than we could have ever imagined.

And this will sound weird. But one thing I did when dd was a baby was read one of Dr Sears books. I know he can be controversial and I really never followed his advice (did the opposite much of the time) but there was a section he wrote about how some babies seem to not want to cuddle and seem distant, but to not give up and feel rejected, keep loving and cuddling with them. Dd was that baby and I had a hard time and was feeling rejected and as if she didn't want cuddles and love. I hope I would never have been neglectful or cold, but I did feel myself having some feelings and not cuddling or playing as much. Until I read that. I pushed through it and it worked.

Also I'm glad I trusted my gut when our family doctor kept telling me nothing was wrong with her when she was five and acting sick and oddly. I kept pushing and we got her type 1 diabetes diagnosis just before it could have been very dangerous.

Going to law school was a good choice. It allowed me to have a lot of flexibility in my career choices.

Exercising almost every day of my adult life has been a good choice. I'm overweight, but I don't have any other health issues and I feel great.