Debt sucks. What makes it suck even worse for me is that I have absolutely nothing to show from the debt my wife and I have been in pretty much since day one. I wish I could at least say I had a really sweet car, or a big screen T.V., but I can't. I guess the health of my family is something to show, but it's not as visible.
And I guess the other thing that I have to show from this is an intense desire never to be in debt again. At least not for the stupid stuff. And definitely not more that we can handle. I think it was really good to learn this lesson early on, rather than twenty years down the road when I am trying to retire, and I realize that I can't because I am in too much debt!
In other news, my grandma and grandpa came down this weekend and helped us do some remodeling of the kitchen. Grandma brought down a few computers from the Family History Center in her stake. They upgraded to new computers just recently, and she had a few that were still worth something. She gave one to mom and Les to use in their bedroom so Les could do homework down there, and she gave two to me to play around with. I am very excited! I already have Ubuntu Linux on the one, and once I get a power supply for the other one, I plan on putting Fedora on it. Maybe Debian again, but probable Fedora.
It is really neat for me, now that we are very close to being out of debt, to realize that school really is a reality for me this fall. I have a little bit of money left to pay BYU-I and then they will release my transcripts. Not only that, but this fall we will be able to pay some extra costs if we have to, like books and supplies. It has been 3 years since I attended BYU-I, and I am ready to get back into the college game. If I work hard at it, I could probably at least have my bachelors by the time I am 29, and that is ok with me.
I am coming to realize that 30 isn't that far away, and it really isn't that old either. If I have my degree by the time I am 29, and a Masters/PhD by the time I am 31 or 32, I will be very happy with myself. There is a lot of life left after 30, assuming nothing drastic happens.
I haven't felt this hopeful very often. Things are starting to turn around, and I think this is just the beginning.
It's been a refiner's fire for sure. It's not over yet. Honestly though, I wouldn't trade it for the world.
