I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Today I went to the bank and deposited a check. I don't usually look at the slips the money machine hands me, just tuck them into my wallet where they usually get ignored until my ass get sore from sitting on too thick a wallet. I noticed the balance, and it was a four digit number! for the first time since I got laid off in 2001, I have a four digit bank balance and don't have piles of unpaid bills waiting for my paycheck to be deposited! Yay!

Still have a stupidly large credit card balance, but that is getting paid off, and I think I'm going to make an extra payment on it with the available balance. It will knock down the usurious interest payment a bit, and reduce my balance back to those familiar small numbers.

Life goes on, and I'll celebrate the victories that come my way.