It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

[freebird5825]

Think back over the last year...please pick the best thing that happened to you, and...gulp...the worst thing. I'll go first.

Best thing - I faced my former w*rkplace at a party event and came out emotionally happy and gleefully gloating. I am over it. It was someone else's life. Rearview mirror all the way...

Worst thing - I lost my wonderful MIL2B in April 2008, oddly enough on the same calendar date as my 2007 FIRE date. She was a wonderful lady who faced her open heart surgery with bravery and grace under fire. I only knew her for 3 yrs. I was robbed!

 

[brewer12345]

I got laid off. Was the best of times and the worst of times...

 

[simple girl]

Best thing: Losing about 10#
Worst thing: Losing my Dad

 

[Moemg]

Best of times I became a grandmother in Feb
Worst of times I've had a lot of problems with my asthma this year

 

[bbbamI]

Best.....making new friends

Worst...losing old friends

 

[Khan]

Worst:
Without electricity for 6 days
Did a dive off the ice on the patio onto my hand
(judges awarded me an 8)

Best:
Made connections with folks all over the 'net

 

[Goonie]

The best of times.....I woke up every [-]morning[/-] day this year, and enjoyed the FIRE-Life each and every one of them!!!

The worst of times.....nothin' much I can think of, at least not in comparison to all the good stuff, good times, & good friends that I've been blessed with!!!

 

[DangerMouse]

Best would be that nothing really happened. That might sound weird, but we did not suffer from layoffs, nor did we lose our shirts in the market crash.
Worst was a close friend was diagnosed with kidney cancer. However, he is doing well and we are crossing our fingers he will beat the odds and be around for many years to come.

 

[FIREd]

Overall this was a very good year for me, nothing to complain about. I am alive and kicking, I have a roof over my head, I have food on the table, I am surrounded by loving people (and pets), and I still have a job and money in the bank.

Coincidently, the best and worse times happened simultaneously. Best times: 10 days in Europe this summer. Worse times: serious and painful GI problems starting 3 days before leaving. But I didn't let it ruin my vacation. I took care of the problem upon returning home.

 

[Payin-the-Toll]

Am getting ready to write an after Christmas letter about 2008 being my worst year ever. 1/29/08-tornado ripped off half our roof and destroyed fence around the pool. 9/23/08-weird power surge (after power company put in new line outside) destroyed computer, modem, T.V., vcr/dvd recorder, cordless messege phone, flouresent lights, etc. (insurance covered all except $2k to fix power line stuff-said it was wear & tear ). Was just one of those years when everything I touched broke--lawnmower, cars, truck, refrigerator, microwave, roto-tiller, rake handle, sump pump, etc., etc.--If I even looked at it, it broke. Spent probably 300 hours refurbishing 46-year old in-ground pool and concrete patio. 11/25/08 had double hip replacement from which I am still recovering. Daughters all live away in towns where in-laws live, so we spent Christmas alone yesterday (they're coming this weekend). The good news??--so far insurance has covered hip surgery 100%--everything that broke I pretty much fixed myself on the cheap (except cars, roof stuff), and believe it or not, conservatively invested and didn't lose any money. Ended up $3k in the hole at the end of the year--had $6k in the checking account in Jan., and ended up with $3k. Looking forward to a family vacation in the Dominican Replubic at the end of Feb. (already mostly paid for), and a much better year!

 

[Texas Proud]

The best thing is I got married.... (or is that the worst thing... time will tell)...

The worst thing... I got laid off... now, that is OK because I got a new job.. but my old one was cush... I got more money... better benefits...

Another 'worst' was losing LOTS of money... now with a family... my retire date has been pushed out a LONG time from when I first thought... it was about 4 years away prior to family and losses... but now is looking like 10 to (GAG).. 15......

 

[Walt34]

Best thing - 20th wedding anniversary. She put on her wedding dress and I got all mushy about it.

Worst - going over to FIL's house and finding him incoherent on the kitchen floor. Thought we were going to lose him, and realizing that we will.

 

[ziggy29]

I guess the best thing is that despite the doom and gloom, from day to day at least we're still doing as well as ever (other than the retirement fund).

The retirement fund, OTOH, is probably the worst thing for us this year. That and the economy going deep into the crapper just as my wife had recently started looking for work. Until that's resolved, as well as things are going at present, I'm nervous as hell and hoarding cash.

 

[Sue J]

Best was that I found Dave Ramsey and I started focusing our already frugal lifestyle so that we could be in a better position when DH expects to retire with a public employees pension in 5 years. We bought back 5.25 years of service that he had cashed out from a previous job and as of Nov., 2008 he now has 25 years of service. Then we paid off 2 car loans and were making good progress on 2 small credit cards.

Worst is that DH's employer has been eliminating middle managers, especially the middle aged ones left over from a previous superintendent. He's on a yearly contract which is up for renewal in May, 2009. He's been getting lots of hints that he may not be renewed.

So we have stopped our debt snowball and we are saving as much as possible just in case. I'm scared because employment around here is looking very poor. He's never been unemployed and this looks like the worst possible time. We can live on very little but the issue of health care insurance, prescriptions and out of pocket expenses throws our whole budget beyond what should be reasonable.

I'm learning a lot and hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

Walt34, tell your wife congratulations on being able to fit into her wedding dress 20 years later!

 

[citrine]

The worst thing.....had a nervous breakdown in Feb and had to do a lot of internal work.
The best thing.....having a nervous breakdown and changing my entire life.

 

[grumpy]

Best - Our son got married to a wonderful woman.
Worst - continuing declining health of FIL

 

[Lakedog]

Best -- retired March 28
2nd Best -- adopted Coal in June (my previous lab died a couple of yrs ago at age 14)

Worst -- not much to complain about other than very minor stuff like having to replace several appliances this year (fridge, washing machine, hot water heater) and my first experience with tinnitus.

 

[Dawg52]

The worst thing.....had a nervous breakdown in Feb and had to do a lot of internal work.
The best thing.....having a nervous breakdown and changing my entire life.

Wow citrine. Glad your life is better.

Best thing for me.....just enjoying my first complete year retired and not having to face the day to day grind of work.

Worst....watching my portfolio shrink.

 

[Nords]

Man, I've always found these questions very difficult to answer. I can barely restrict myself to a top-ten list, but I have to choose just one?!? And we had a pretty good year for the Nords extended family-- no deaths or disasters or sudden injury/illness. Heck, I don't think I've even lost my temper this year. Our threshold for "best" is pretty low.

Daughter (who spent all of two seconds thinking about her answer):
Best-- getting her driver's license.
Worst-- 30 hours of driver education and 50 hours of behind-the-wheel. Which seems an odd choice considering some of the other teen drama & angst that's come home this year. But at least she didn't have that pause/guilty/reflective expression on her face that means she doesn't want to discuss some even worse "worst" with us parents.

Spouse (another eight seconds of thought):
Best-- retiring from the Navy Reserve after 25½ years.
Getting a TiVo came in a very close second.
Worst-- the day that made her decide to retire.

Me:
Best-- [-]any of a half-dozen awesome longboarding waves that I've caught and surfing lessons that I've given[/-] daughter getting her driver's license.
Worst-- [-]serving my share of 50 hours in the passenger seat[/-] thoughtlessly pointing out to spouse that she seemed to be having just the same sucky kind of day that led to my own retirement decision.

In terms of prolonged pain infliction I'd have to give extra bonus points to the stock market, losing my wallet, dealing with torn ACLs, several parent-teacher conferences, and getting ready for the taekwondo black belt test. But those have all led to very beneficial reflection & discussion followed by great personal growth (except for the teachers), so they could also be considered a classic Puritanical form of "best"...

 

[ziggy29]

Best-- [-]any of a half-dozen awesome longboarding waves that I've caught and surfing lessons that I've given[/-] daughter getting her driver's license.

Taxi service is now closed, eh?

 

[CuppaJoe]

Worst of times? An old college roommate called, said heard thru the grapevine that I had a very bad year.

Best of times? I disagree with the gossip.

Side note, sometimes people assume that retirement is a bad thing to happen to a person?

 

[Bestwifeever]

The worst of this year is not even close to the worst things that have happened in my life so I don't even go there. Of course, the same is true for the best but overall it was an okay year.

Sayonara, 2008!

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

a bittersweet year

best: finding my dad after a long search and visiting with him for the first time in 15 years and getting my brother & father together for the first time in 36 years and by all that facilitating my father's recent visit with his grandchildren for the very first time in their lives.

worst: seeing the picture of my father at age 80, my nephews aged 13 & 18 and my niece age 16 together for the very first time, looking at them all smiling but having such a hard time smiling myself because it's so sad. i met my own paternal grandfather just three times in my life and now my niece and nephews have had a two hour lunch with theirs.

 

[tangomonster]

Best thing for me: as part of really settling into ER after almost two years, discovering that I am a more social person than I thought and establishing friendships at the never-too-late age of 54. Turns out I like people----I just didn't like the people I spent most of my pre-FIRE days with: co-workers and, especially, managers.

Runner up: being excited by this year's election and sharing the country's excitement and engagement in something so crucial.

Worst thing: losing 25% of what I retired with two years ago, as well as my innocence about and faith in investing.

Runner up: getting a frozen shoulder and experiencing pain and restricted movement daily.

 

[Zoocat]

Best: becoming a grandmother! A new cute little baby boy in the family.

Worst: seeing my retirement portfolio shrink by almost 30% and realizing what a wimpy, scared little **** I can be about money.