It's November, and everyone I know is posting about what they're thankful for, but I just don't have the heart for it right now.  Because, frankly, this year, especially the most recent portion, has sucked.

It started in July, at the same time as my son's first birthday.  On the same day, at the same time, my grandmother went into the hospital and her older brother, my great uncle, died.  At his wake we learned that my grandmother had cancer and, as she was 93, would most likely be going into hospice.  

Later that month, we found out that my father also had cancer.  The same type my great uncle died of.  He had surgery, and everything bad was removed.  On top of that, the timing chain in my husband's car broke, taking out the top part of the engine.  We chose the cheapest of 3 options and got the entire engine replaced, to the tune of $3,000.  While his car was in the shop, my car crapped out, and we managed to limp it into the service station.  Luckily, it was an easier fix, only costing us $400.  So, we had the two cars back, running fine, for a week before his car crapped out again, because the service station didn't replace one of the wires to the battery... cost nothing to fix, but the stress was not welcome.

Now we're in November.  My Grandmother passed away just before Halloween, and the week has been full of tears and family.  And tonight, it was full of the sewer backing up, again.  This time we paid to have our system checked and discovered a corroded pipe just outside the house... with an estimate of $4,000 to fix the pipe, so we don't have this problem anymore.

Between all this, and the new baby we're expecting next year... I am so stressed out, and feel like we're bleeding money we just don't have.  

I know things could be worse.  That I should be thankful we have a house and cars.  That my husband has a good job and health insurance.  That we can put food on the table and have clean water to drink.  

But, frankly, I don't think, after the year we've had, that it's too much to ask for a little easing up in one area of our lives.  To ask that things not break until we can scrape up enough back into our savings to handle another upset.  I don't want lavish vacations, or new cars, or a bigger house.  All I want is a little breathing space of things going right and easy.  Is that really so much to ask for?