One-Third of My Life
The other day I noticed a link to a post on a blog that I don't normally read and I really liked it. She writes about the last decade and sums up her life during those years. I realized the other day that we have already spent one decade in the 2000s, and my brain keeps thinking it is still 1998. A decade went by fast, but it was one-third of my life so I think it is interesting to look back.
The year 2000 started for me on my mission in Spain. I spent that entire year in Spain and came back early in 2001. I lived with my parents in Maryland for a few months, then came back to school at BYU in Provo. My husband and I got married at the end of 2001 and spent a few more years in Utah. We moved to Seattle and then to California before coming back to buy a house in Utah. When this last decade started my parents lived in Maryland but they have moved closer to us in Las Vegas. My mother-in-law lived in Hawaii during the first few years of marriage but she has also moved to Utah. My husband and I have lived in seven different homes during the last nine years.
During the last ten years I acquired a husband and three beautiful children. I got to experience pregnancy, childbirth (only c-sections, no labor), related health issues, depression, anxiety, and a lot of dirty diapers. Plenty of joy along with those times, too. We're still married despite many of the things we've dealt with during the last 9 years.
When I got home from my mission I needed to finish my undergraduate degree. Since then I finished my bachelor's degree with a double major, earned a master's degree, and spent a year in a PhD program. My husband finished his bachlor's degree and completed two master's degrees. We've gone from being dirt-poor students who owned some books and a couch to owning our own home and car, and a whole bunch of other stuff (we still have most of the books but have been through many couches in the interim).
When we got married we had a computer and internet, but have since discovered blogging, Facebook, and many other ways to connect with people. Both through my husband's writing and my own I have made many new, dear friends and have had some great times with them. We have also travelled to see friends and family in Hawaii, Oregon, California, Arizona, Wyoming, and Nevada.
Unfortunately we've been to a lot of funerals. My friend and her husband died in 2002 and then two weeks later my brother-in-law also passed away suddenly. The next year I lost a great uncle. Two years after that, my aunt. The next year, my grandmother. The next an uncle. Then another uncle the year after that. And then my grandfather. So many good, sweet people that I hope to see again some day. My grandmother's house in Wyoming has now been completely emptied and remodeled--there have been many shifts in my extended family.
We've also welcomed several in-laws and nieces and nephews. I've come to love my husband's family and feel like they are my own and I have always been a part of them.
I feel like so much has changed during the last ten years of my life. Most of this change has been positive. I'm very happy with where I am at in my life right now and look forward to the future. Looking down the road another ten years I hope to be in the same house, with older children who have some goals for their lives, and with the same sweet husband who loves me. I hope we don't have so many funerals to go to and that we can go to more happy occasions like weddings and baptisms. More than anything I hope to be more kind, more faithful, and more confident in myself.
The year 2000 started for me on my mission in Spain. I spent that entire year in Spain and came back early in 2001. I lived with my parents in Maryland for a few months, then came back to school at BYU in Provo. My husband and I got married at the end of 2001 and spent a few more years in Utah. We moved to Seattle and then to California before coming back to buy a house in Utah. When this last decade started my parents lived in Maryland but they have moved closer to us in Las Vegas. My mother-in-law lived in Hawaii during the first few years of marriage but she has also moved to Utah. My husband and I have lived in seven different homes during the last nine years.
During the last ten years I acquired a husband and three beautiful children. I got to experience pregnancy, childbirth (only c-sections, no labor), related health issues, depression, anxiety, and a lot of dirty diapers. Plenty of joy along with those times, too. We're still married despite many of the things we've dealt with during the last 9 years.
When I got home from my mission I needed to finish my undergraduate degree. Since then I finished my bachelor's degree with a double major, earned a master's degree, and spent a year in a PhD program. My husband finished his bachlor's degree and completed two master's degrees. We've gone from being dirt-poor students who owned some books and a couch to owning our own home and car, and a whole bunch of other stuff (we still have most of the books but have been through many couches in the interim).
When we got married we had a computer and internet, but have since discovered blogging, Facebook, and many other ways to connect with people. Both through my husband's writing and my own I have made many new, dear friends and have had some great times with them. We have also travelled to see friends and family in Hawaii, Oregon, California, Arizona, Wyoming, and Nevada.
Unfortunately we've been to a lot of funerals. My friend and her husband died in 2002 and then two weeks later my brother-in-law also passed away suddenly. The next year I lost a great uncle. Two years after that, my aunt. The next year, my grandmother. The next an uncle. Then another uncle the year after that. And then my grandfather. So many good, sweet people that I hope to see again some day. My grandmother's house in Wyoming has now been completely emptied and remodeled--there have been many shifts in my extended family.
We've also welcomed several in-laws and nieces and nephews. I've come to love my husband's family and feel like they are my own and I have always been a part of them.
I feel like so much has changed during the last ten years of my life. Most of this change has been positive. I'm very happy with where I am at in my life right now and look forward to the future. Looking down the road another ten years I hope to be in the same house, with older children who have some goals for their lives, and with the same sweet husband who loves me. I hope we don't have so many funerals to go to and that we can go to more happy occasions like weddings and baptisms. More than anything I hope to be more kind, more faithful, and more confident in myself.
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