Randal and I were reminiscing about what we were doing ten years ago and how we marked the end of the first decade of the 2000s. I thought back to where I was in December of 2009 and then remembered that I had done a blogpost to close the decade. It was fun to look back on it and the one constant of my life... I have no idea where life will take me in the next ten years.
So. Ten years ago, I had recently moved to Phoenix. I was lonely, but working at my first job that really paid well and I was really a grown up. I filled my days with reading, educational activities, and actively seeking and securing solid friendships. I embarked on self-improvement projects and worried that I would never meet the right person and would never get married.
And today? One, it will be a miracle if I get through this blogpost in one sitting without a kid calling me.* But, as for the rest.. We have relatively recently moved. I have not worked in the last year and have struggled with not getting paid well. I fill my days with reading (mostly children's books), educational activities (appropriate for a four year-old), and actively seeking and securing solid friendships. I embark on self-improvement projects. One big difference? I have met and did marry the right person.
It has been an amazing experience.
Randal and I met in 2011 and I knew immediately that he was the one for me. We traveled and played and explored together. We moved to Baltimore for grad school in 2012. (I had to leave those friendships in Phoenix - but, I still have some remarkably solid friends from that time.) We spent an incredible year there - one of our best - where we worked and played hard, were very inspired, optimistic (after all, Obama was reelected that year), and focused on reducing climate change and saving the world. We still have an annual reunion with our friends from Baltimore.
In 2013, Randal, Stephanie, and I moved to Klamath Falls so that Stephanie and I could launch our clinic. We had the utmost faith that we would succeed. And we did. Randal and I also got married and adopted two dogs - Maizie and Juneau.
2014 was our year of solidifying our Klamath friendships, of self-improvement, home-improvement, and expanding our professional projects. We bought a building. Randal started the Gaucho Collective. Stephanie and I expanded the Wellness Center team, convinced the hospital to renovate a building, received grants, and worked hard. We all worked hard.
In 2015, the Wellness Center opened, Blue Zones came to Klamath, and a little boy slowly grew inside me. Milo Arthur joined us in September. Obama was president. Work had gone well. Blue skies were abundant.
2016 brought growing unrest professionally and so Randal and I agreed that we should move again, that I should go to graduate school and get a doctorate, and that we would leave in 2017. Trump was elected and I lost some faith in humanity.
And then 2017 started with a sledding accident on January 7th. We lost Stephanie on the 12th and my life divided into two - the years before her death and the years after. The outpouring of love was incredible. I gathered my family and friends close, literally and figuratively. I deferred grad school so that we could stay and solidify the clinic. Randal started working at Jeld-Wen. I lost a pregnancy at 13 weeks. It was a rough, rough year.
In 2018, we made a decision. Randal and I decided to say no to grad school at Hopkins and move home to Indiana. We hoped to do it after we had another baby, but I lost another pregnancy in March and our doctor told us to quit trying for a while. And, as the old story goes, that is when we got pregnant. Life blossomed in 2018 with friendships and adopted family. Milo went to preschool and continued his friendship with Annie Jespersen - a remarkably permanent toddler friendship. No doubt, aided by the fact that her parents were some of our best friends as well. I tried to finish as many projects as I could at the Wellness Center, which continued to grow and expand. We told our friends and family that we were going to Indiana.
And then, 2019 began. Marian Stephanie arrived (with the help of an induction) on January 21st with a lot of hair and more attitude than her brother. Randal moved to Indiana to start work on February 4th and Mom came out to help us pack up our lives. We left Klamath on March 17th, days before Marian's 2 month birthday. We bought our house in June and moved into it in July. I stayed at home with our kids and have watched them grow this year. Milo is a sweet four year old with a huge imagination. He dresses up in costumes every day and we struggle to keep up with whatever character he is at that moment (and subsequently, whatever character we are also assigned). His language is incredible and I marvel at his correct usage of adverbs. He doesn't like basketball. He loves preschool and talks regularly about his best friend, Annie. He is very funny. Marian is almost one and is mischievously adorable. She has an impish grin with a little dimple and gets stopped all the time because she's so beautiful. Her curly dark locks fall around her face and constantly get food in them. She loves moving and cruising and watching her brother. She loves eating food she wants and will moan when she's happy with it. She does not sleep as well as Milo and is firmly attached to her parents. She is quick to giggle and can tell you what a dog says.
I begin a new job at the Center for Rural Engagement on January 2nd. It is a good bookend for this year and a start to the next. Marian and Milo begin daycare and preschool respectively on January 6th. It will be an adjustment for everyone.
And thus, this decade closes relatively quietly. We have lost many people (and one Bogey cat) in the past ten years, but have also gained many as well, Milo and Marian being just two of the new personalities who make us laugh and marvel.
And so, from my family and my little world to yours, I wish you a very happy new year and a very happy decade.
*I didn't.
So. Ten years ago, I had recently moved to Phoenix. I was lonely, but working at my first job that really paid well and I was really a grown up. I filled my days with reading, educational activities, and actively seeking and securing solid friendships. I embarked on self-improvement projects and worried that I would never meet the right person and would never get married.
And today? One, it will be a miracle if I get through this blogpost in one sitting without a kid calling me.* But, as for the rest.. We have relatively recently moved. I have not worked in the last year and have struggled with not getting paid well. I fill my days with reading (mostly children's books), educational activities (appropriate for a four year-old), and actively seeking and securing solid friendships. I embark on self-improvement projects. One big difference? I have met and did marry the right person.
It has been an amazing experience.
Randal and I met in 2011 and I knew immediately that he was the one for me. We traveled and played and explored together. We moved to Baltimore for grad school in 2012. (I had to leave those friendships in Phoenix - but, I still have some remarkably solid friends from that time.) We spent an incredible year there - one of our best - where we worked and played hard, were very inspired, optimistic (after all, Obama was reelected that year), and focused on reducing climate change and saving the world. We still have an annual reunion with our friends from Baltimore.
In 2013, Randal, Stephanie, and I moved to Klamath Falls so that Stephanie and I could launch our clinic. We had the utmost faith that we would succeed. And we did. Randal and I also got married and adopted two dogs - Maizie and Juneau.
2014 was our year of solidifying our Klamath friendships, of self-improvement, home-improvement, and expanding our professional projects. We bought a building. Randal started the Gaucho Collective. Stephanie and I expanded the Wellness Center team, convinced the hospital to renovate a building, received grants, and worked hard. We all worked hard.
In 2015, the Wellness Center opened, Blue Zones came to Klamath, and a little boy slowly grew inside me. Milo Arthur joined us in September. Obama was president. Work had gone well. Blue skies were abundant.
2016 brought growing unrest professionally and so Randal and I agreed that we should move again, that I should go to graduate school and get a doctorate, and that we would leave in 2017. Trump was elected and I lost some faith in humanity.
And then 2017 started with a sledding accident on January 7th. We lost Stephanie on the 12th and my life divided into two - the years before her death and the years after. The outpouring of love was incredible. I gathered my family and friends close, literally and figuratively. I deferred grad school so that we could stay and solidify the clinic. Randal started working at Jeld-Wen. I lost a pregnancy at 13 weeks. It was a rough, rough year.
In 2018, we made a decision. Randal and I decided to say no to grad school at Hopkins and move home to Indiana. We hoped to do it after we had another baby, but I lost another pregnancy in March and our doctor told us to quit trying for a while. And, as the old story goes, that is when we got pregnant. Life blossomed in 2018 with friendships and adopted family. Milo went to preschool and continued his friendship with Annie Jespersen - a remarkably permanent toddler friendship. No doubt, aided by the fact that her parents were some of our best friends as well. I tried to finish as many projects as I could at the Wellness Center, which continued to grow and expand. We told our friends and family that we were going to Indiana.
And then, 2019 began. Marian Stephanie arrived (with the help of an induction) on January 21st with a lot of hair and more attitude than her brother. Randal moved to Indiana to start work on February 4th and Mom came out to help us pack up our lives. We left Klamath on March 17th, days before Marian's 2 month birthday. We bought our house in June and moved into it in July. I stayed at home with our kids and have watched them grow this year. Milo is a sweet four year old with a huge imagination. He dresses up in costumes every day and we struggle to keep up with whatever character he is at that moment (and subsequently, whatever character we are also assigned). His language is incredible and I marvel at his correct usage of adverbs. He doesn't like basketball. He loves preschool and talks regularly about his best friend, Annie. He is very funny. Marian is almost one and is mischievously adorable. She has an impish grin with a little dimple and gets stopped all the time because she's so beautiful. Her curly dark locks fall around her face and constantly get food in them. She loves moving and cruising and watching her brother. She loves eating food she wants and will moan when she's happy with it. She does not sleep as well as Milo and is firmly attached to her parents. She is quick to giggle and can tell you what a dog says.
I begin a new job at the Center for Rural Engagement on January 2nd. It is a good bookend for this year and a start to the next. Marian and Milo begin daycare and preschool respectively on January 6th. It will be an adjustment for everyone.
And thus, this decade closes relatively quietly. We have lost many people (and one Bogey cat) in the past ten years, but have also gained many as well, Milo and Marian being just two of the new personalities who make us laugh and marvel.
And so, from my family and my little world to yours, I wish you a very happy new year and a very happy decade.
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