One year in

I've been in country now for 1 year. Well, 1 year and 5 days as of writing this. It's not that big of a deal, really, just a mark on the calendar. I've lived in a lot of other countries for longer than this. Those were different situations, obviously, but mostly harder than this. In some aspects. In other ways, this is still the hardest thing I've ever done.


Some of the negative things that have happened this year:

I still don't get Neeve for overnight visits.
I still don't get a lot of time with Neeve.
I went for 7 of those months not working.
I'm still living in a room in a shared house.
I'm still broke most of the time.
I've left Bournemouth twice since I've been here. Once to Southampton, and once to Bristol.
I still don't have a car.
I still don't have a girlfriend.
I owe my solicitor £2500.


Some of the neutral things:

Still don't have a good relationship with her mother (that just makes it harder on Neeve)


Some of the positive things:

I get to see Neeve more than ever.
She knows I'm her father, and there are no issues with that.
I have a job.
I'll have a place to live soon.
I'll get overnight/weekend visits soon.
I'm getting the bills paid instead of putting them off.
I have a great group of friends who have made my time here good.

And the most important thing:

I get to see Neeve more than ever.


So, some good, some bad, some indifferent. All-in-all, it's been a good year, if a rough one. But I'm glad I'm here, and I'm not going away.

It's just hard to believe a year has passed already.