Big Ol’ Bad Daddy and Mother of all Decades

**If you feel the urge to burst into laughter over my choice of hairdo and/or clothing throughout the last decade, please…don’t let me stop you. But when you’re finished having that hearty chuckle, go open your own photo albums. I’m warning you now, it won’t seem quite so funny when it’s your own hair and clothing that screams OUTDATED.**

It’s crazy.

Ten years ago, I was a sophomore in college. Yeah, COLLEGE. I was all of 20 years old.

Wow.

These last ten years of my life had, obviously, not happened and I could only daydream about where I would be ten, fifteen, twenty years from then. The landscape of life looked a lot different from that vantage point.

As I recall, I was moving in an Easterly direction, toward New York and a career in publishing. I planned on having five dogs to keep me company, possibly an equal number of cats (making me a crazy cat lady for sure) and living a single, fast-paced life…at least until I was 25, at which time I would meet SOMEONE. Probably a fine gent with a British accent, or maybe Bruce Willis, the flava of choice at the time. And then I’d get married and yada yada yada, so on and so forth…meaning I hadn’t quite gotten around to figuring out what happened after 25.

It was so very, very far away, after all.

Well, this is where I rub my hands together in evil delight because I am so ALL-KNOWING now, looking back on the last ten years of my life. They’re like brimming photo albums in my mind, stuffed with cherished, funny, life-changing and sometimes even difficult, memories that no digital camera--or amount of film, as the case was then, could capture.

The biggest events of my life, you know, the MAJOR LIFE EVENTS, occurred during the last decade making it the BIGGEST OL’ BAD DADDY AND MOTHER OF ALL DECADES, as far as I’m concerned.

The next ten years will undoubtedly hold some crazy adventures and changes, but consider the following that occurred between 2000 and 2009:

*Met Christopher (but just barely…man, was he lucky. :) )

*Graduated from college #1 (and left behind a fantastic era of my life filled with the discovery of self and the best of friends—still one of the saddest days of my life)

*I moved to Cedar City to attend SUU, Christopher stayed in Price to attend CEU and we endured a grueling 8-month long-distance relationship.

*Got engaged

*I learned firsthand about Stargardt’s Disease

*Became Emily Box Cox, in true literary style

*Moved into our very first place in Cedar City

*Adopted our first child

*I graduated college #2.

*Survived our first year of marriage, which Christopher deemed the longest year of his life…. ;)

*Made great, lifelong friends

*I chose a new career path while working with juvenile delinquents (for whom I still hold a special place in my heart, the little punks…).

*Moved into our second place, surrounded by single college students and great friends whom we’ll never forget.

*Moved to Vegas for Christopher to attend pharmacy school

* I discovered my passion for school counseling at Green Valley High.

*Graduated from grad school.

*Met loads of fabulous people and friends whom we love.

*Moved to Utah

*I worked at American Fork High

and Christopher worked for free during his year-long internship.

*Bennett arrived mid-decade.

*We moved into our very first HOUSE!!

*Christopher graduated from University of Southern Nevada.

*Christopher became a (legal) drug dealer and got a dream job.

*Adopted two more kids

*Miles arrived in 2008

*Enjoyed great neighbors, friends and a ward we LOVE!

*Traveled both near and far (the near being mainly during the lean college years!)

Now here we are peering over into 2010.

(Weren’t we supposed to have flying cars by now?)

A few things I know for sure about the impending decade:

*I will experience all the glories of thirty and then step leisurely into forty.

*I will have a teenager

*I will enjoy my family, my home and friends, travel more (LOTS more, farther rather than nearer) and take hundreds of albums full of pictures with my memory camera.

Helloooooo, 2010!!