Jodi Rae

Some days I wake up and feel like I’ve finally figured life out. And then other days? Self-doubt walks in like it owns the joint. Three months ago, I was approved for a home loan. I remember reading the email and thinking, Okay. This is real. This is the next chapter. The hard part was over, right? I filled out the forms, I qualified. I'm good to go. Then I toured a house. From the very first walkthrough, I knew. It was special. I could see me living there. I started dreaming of furniture. I...

Three years ago, I took a big leap of faith and applied for a job that wasn’t outside my skills or abilities but it was way outside my career comfort. I had worked in public education for almost 24 years. And the saddest part is after nearly 25 years with the same school district, I still didn’t make enough to comfortably support myself. There were no retirement savings. No savings account. Just a credit card with a balance for the months I came up short. I knew I couldn’t keep going like...

The holidays were very different for me this year. My girls are adults now, and I know some traditions mean a lot to them, but not being in a place of my own changed everything. Their stockings were in storage. The cookie cutters were in storage. Ornaments. In storage. My past. In storage. So it looked different. It felt different. And somehow… that was okay. I’m starting to realize how many traditions actually just add stress to my life. This year, I paid attention to what really mattered to...