Vixyntrovert

With 2023 being so horrible overall, ending in homelessness for us, and seeming to be a fairly bad year for pretty much everyone I've talked to, it could be tempting to start 2024 either with an outright negative outlook, or the rock-bottom optimism of, "it can't get any worse."  However, not even one full day into the new year, I'm feeling overwhelmed by kindness, support, encouragement, and an affirmation that I'm a good and decent person others believe is worth investing in. For a start, a couple of friends have once again lent their financial support to us. I'll call them Sean, Larry, and Tim. Each gave to a varying degree, but no donation was less appreciated. Sean even went above and beyond, telling us that since WINZ wasn't going to give us any accommodation supplement, he was going to give us a good chunk of what they gave him instead in a defiant "pay-it-forward" gesture. I have to say, it's helped a lot more than I thought it wo...

I'm going to summarise 2023 before I forget everything because it's been a roller coaster year and I want to remind myself later of what I survived. JANUARY The start of the year held a forboding almost immediately when my partner tested positive for COVID on New Years Day. Fortunately he'd felt sick enough before the test to call off going to a New Years Party, and I was away housesitting so I stayed in with the pets I was looking after instead of going there to meet him as planned. My housesitting clients got rained out during their holiday because of a bad storm in the North Island, so they decided to come home a week early. Since my partner was isolating and I couldn't go straight home, I ended up staying at a friend's house for the week instead. It was very hard not to be there with him for Christmas and New Year because of all the house sitting work. Over Christmas I had a chemical pregnancy miscarriage, the first I was aware of, and it was already an emotiona...