Friday, January 1, 2010

A Decade Ago

I'm taking an idea from Kate's blog, looking back over the past decade at how things have changed.

2000...turned 21, realized it wasn't meant to be with someone, moved in with Susan, finished junior year of college, met my Cowboy, thought it would be "a summer thing," got engaged after four months, finished my last semester of classes

2001...turned 22, started student teaching at Gregory, watched my class at "Best Foot Forward," graduated from college, got my first car (a silver Chevy Malibu), Eileen got married, took a camping trip with Heidi and Matt, rappelled in open space!, got a teaching job at Gregory, sat in amazement looking at my very own classroom, watched in horror as two towers fell, started wedding planning

2002...turned 23, went to my oldest niece's graduation in Illinois, grieved with Mark and his family as we lost Grandaddy three days before our wedding, got married, spent our honeymoon on a cruise through the Caribbean, spent a night in New Orleans at Carnival's expense, found out last minute that I did have my job back at Gregory, started working for Papa John's

2003...turned 24, finished second year of teaching, worked at Papa John's, mostly during the day, while Mark was in class, got to be good friends with Beth, got pregnant, started one of my most difficult years of teaching, attended Matt and Heidi's Halloween wedding, watched my husband graduate college (even though I didn't hear his name because someone was cheering for their person)

2004...struggled with Mark starting his internship at PwC where he travelled Monday through Friday and was only home on the weekends, turned 25, had Mom attend an ultrasound with me on my birthday, became good friends with Liz as we went through pregnancy together, spent a week in a hotel room in Charlotte as Mark worked at his internship, went to the aquarium with 20-some kindergarteners while 35 weeks pregnant, went on bedrest at 36 weeks for high blood pressure, found out that Mom wasn't doing so well and wasn't going to have much longer, thought she was doing better, Mark quit his internship to take care of me and started working at Papa John's again, had labor induced at 39 weeks, had Zack 20 hours later, visited Mom in the hospital on my first Mother's Day and her last, lost her a couple days later, was told that my school didn't have a position for me, moved away from Wilmington to Mark's parents' house, looked all summer for a job, started teaching first grade at Rolesville, bought a house

2005...turned 26, took 11-month-old Zack on a roadtrip by myself, returned to a "While you were out" scenario at my house (Mark painted the bathroom yellow and decorated), went to Disney World!!!!, met Mickey Mouse for the first time in my life!!!!, bought my first NEW car (my Honda CRV), started second year at Rolesville as our grade chair

2006...turned 27, went to Erie, Niagara Falls and Saint Mary's on our second long roadtrip, became friends with Andrea, got pregnant again

2007...turned 28, struggled with teaching, found out that I was having another boy, watched Mark finish his first season of races, said goodbye to the principal that gave me a chance, spent the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy at home, spent time in the pool so I could feel weightless, had labor induced at 41 weeks, gave birth to Xander after 6 and a half hours with no pain medication or epidural, experienced life with two children!, went back to teaching when Xander was 6 weeks old, struggled with teaching some more, lost Mark's dad (Grandad) in December

2008...turned 29, struggled with teaching, decided that I wasn't going to teach anymore, bid a bittersweet farewell to the school when I had worked for four years, went to Disney World again!, looked for work, started working at Kohl's in August, opened the store in late September, applied for a promotion in December

2009...turned 30!!!, struggled with parenthood, celebrated Zack's 5th birthday, got a promotion to POS supervisor, took Zack to Tae Kwon Do, swimming lessons and soccer, took Xander to swimming lessons, went to the beach with the family!!, watched my sister grieveZack started kindergarten, struggled with good behavior, missed his celebration at the end of the quarter because of his behavior, accelled at reading!!! And now, well I'm still just trying to be the best wife and mother that I can be, and I hope that I can keep getting better!
Happy New Year (and decade) everyone!!

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