A Turn of a Decade

We welcomed in the new year 14 hours ahead of most of our family and friends. In fact, as I sit here right now it is only 9:14 pm on December 31, 2009. So Happy New Year to all my family and friends!

This New Year's is special. Not only is it a new year, but a new decade as well. Hard to believe that 10 years has gone by. And what a ride the past 10 years has been.

• We have moved 3 times. From DeKalb, Illinois to Decatur, Illinois. Then from Decatur to Fuquay Varina, North Carolina. And then from North Carolina to Kobe, Japan.
  
• I went from working at a small PR firm, to staying home full-time and running my own consulting PR and technical writing business to giving it all up to be a trailing spouse.
• Matt and I went from two children to three. We have watched our kids grow from little babies and toddlers to having an almost 14 year old, a 10 year old and a 6 year old.
• Matt went back to school and got his MBA.
• Matt has traveled the world with his job. And now the kids and I are getting a taste of our own traveling adventures.
• This decade seemed to have been full of loss. We buried Matt's mom, both of his grandparents, his aunt, my aunt and our own daughter.
  

I've learned alot the past 10 years about myself, family, friends and life in general. It has been 10 years of change and of growth. I am not the same person I was 10 years ago. Not even close. But that isn't necessarily bad.

I think about this new decade and wonder what it will be like. Where will we be living in 10 years? At the end of this new decade our kids will be 23, 20 and 16. What will each of them be doing? Where will Chris and Emily be living? Where will Matt be career wise? What will I be doing? Life will be completely different from what it is now. Hopefully the different is good.