So, what about the bucket list?
Definitely quitting work at this point is not on it. Our financial life has taken a downward turn along with everyone else’s. I’m just so fortunate to have a job.
Living in Italy will now have to be postponed indefinitely. Staying in my job is not consistent with living in Italy.
Traveling has also moved far down on the list or even off of it for now. We are definitely economizing on that front. We haven’t had a real trip in over two years and don’t have plans for any in the future – either near or far. I even cancelled going to a poetry writing workshop at Esalen in December because of the expense of the workshop and having to take a few days off work for no-pay – I didn’t have enough vacation time.
That is not to say that we’ve stopped living. We’re still eating out – probably much too much. We're still entertaining. We’re still going to movies, theater, and the opera (though I don’t know about re-upping for all of those things next season), and we’ve done a bit of shopping for gifts for the holidays.Thankfully, Bob has gotten some work and gas prices are way back down, so we feel we can afford to spend a little bit.
However, the goal for this coming year (what's on the top of next year's bucket list) is for both of us to keep working while the economy turns around and our IRA nest egg builds back up. Then, by the end of 2009, we can begin to make other plans again. Am I being too optimistic? Well, maybe so, but I better be. How could I stand it otherwise?
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