If I let my employer's contributions to my LTD (100%) be taxable, then my actual LTD will be untaxable--that sounds like a decent gamble, right?

Yes. And I generally do the buy-up on LTD and not on STD--I figure if I have short term disability, the difference is not huge and I can probably cover it. But on the off chance I ever need LTD, I figure I'll be in deep shit and hurting for every penny I can get.

And now MK's butt is in front of Pumpkin. She's growling, he's ignoring her. I'm not sure he knows she's even there.

Thanks, Amy & everyone.

I'm glad it was peaceful, too. And it's what she wanted. Well, minus the hospital part.

I'm going to hang out quietly in here and watch y'all be wise. I soaked up the Atlantic conversation and its tangents like it was sunlight, let me tell you what.

I figure I'll be in deep shit and hurting for every penny I can get.

Yeah, LTD and 60% of income scares the hell out of me. 80%? That will be difficult, but some severe lifestyle changes and no more socking away into savings will have to cover that.

Jeez, it's raining out! Could you give the drum circle a rest?

Sox, my condolences to your DH & family. It's never easy, but it sounds like it was as peaceful as it could have been, and I hope that's a comfort.

The truth is that I didn't. I was never good at it and actively disliked doing the cute thing to get boys. Always have. But it meant that I wasn't part of the cadre of chicks reading "the Knot" and planning the perfect Napa wedding the next summer.

javachik, reading about those women, I also wonder how many of them are actually happy in their marriages (or still married) now. I mean, I certainly hope they are; I don't wish them unhappiness. But I'd guess it's not uncommon for someone who really, really wants to get married NOW -- in other words, someone for whom the goal is "marriage," not "finding the right person" -- to end up marrying someone with whom they're not super happy or compatible, long-term.

I love reading Burrell's and Teppy's and beth's and Scrappy's stories of finding the right person. I sometimes think about how M and I were at just the right stages in our lives to meet and fall in love with each other; if we'd met five years earlier, we might not even have liked each other all that much, and we probably wouldn't have had enough experience to understand all that was right about each other. We both did a lot of growing up in our 20s, and it got us to the place where we *could* be right for each other.

(As a side note, it does sometimes feel strange to have moved across the country together, less than a year into the relationship. Strange in the sense that, while to us it's still unexpectedly wonderful that we found each other, to our friends in Nashville we're just... Kate & Mark. Just another couple. Whereas our friends back home *know* how long it took, and how frustrating it was for both of us to be single for so long while they all got married and started having babies, and consequently they still tell us sometimes how happy they are for us.)

From DH, when I passed on messages just now: "Thank you all. Brought tears to my eyes."

Shallow: I haz new glasses - [link]

Shallow: I haz new glasses - [link]

Very nice!

{{Sox's DH and all of your family}}

Pretty glasses, Jessica! I have to go back on Tuesday for another appointment--my new ones are a bit off in the left eye, and they have to redo the back of the ear piece which is digging into the skin behind my right ear.

I've been teling some co-workers/friends here about my plans for my England trip next summer, and it's starting to get a bit annoying how many of them are saying "Maybe you'll meet a guy over there!" Now that I'm in "acceptable" shape, they're thinking all I want is to snare a guy, and if I get one with a cute accent, all the better. Believe me, if it happens, sweet! But that's not why I'm going there.