2000:
-Turned 18! I remember thinking that I was finally an adult. I was so wrong!
-Graduated from high school
-Moved to Ann Arbor and started my freshman year at the University of Michigan
2001:
-Turned 19, which I thought was so cool because I could legally drink in Canada. It wasn't.
-Took my first overseas trip to South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe for an African safari with my aunt and uncle. Amazing!
-9/11 happened. I was a sophomore in college. I still remember how scared I was. I remember watching the news on TV that morning with my roommates. It was so confusing. I went to class, only to discover class had been canceled. Watched students everywhere wander around in a daze and try to make calls on their cell phones.
-Started dating my long-term college boyfriend.
2002:
-Studied abroad in Florence, Italy over the summer. Visited Rome, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Verona, Padua, Lucca, and countless other little Italian towns dotting the countryside of Tuscany. Fell in love with tomatoes and red wine, things I had previously hated. Fell in love with Italy!
-Started volunteering at a crisis phone line for runaway teens.
2003:
-Turned 21, which seemed like a big deal at the time. It wasn't. Went to London with my dad over spring break. Fell in love with London.
-Continued volunteering at the crisis phone line. Started thinking that this was something I might want to pursue as a career.
-Decided to go to graduate school for Social Work. Began applying for programs. Accepted at University of Michigan, USC, Case Western. Visited USC and seriously contemplated moving to California.
2004:
-Turned 22, which I specifically remember thinking was SO OLD. It wasn't.
-Decided to stay in Michigan for grad school and continue at the University of Michigan, which had the #1 social work program in the country.
-Graduated from college...and seriously felt like an adult. I wasn't.
-Moved into a new apartment and started grad school.
2005:
-College boyfriend and I broke up. Best thing that could have happened for my life.
-Met and made amazing friends in grad school who I am still close with to this day.
-Started my first grad school internship, working in pediatric oncology at U of M Hospital. Very difficult...decided working in pediatric healthcare was too emotionally taxing.
-Started my second grad school internship, working at an alternative high school. I did individual therapy and ran some groups - loved it.
-Had lasik surgery!
-Began to plan moving out of Michigan for the first time in my life...rather arbitrarily decided on Washington, DC and started applying for jobs.
-Was offered a job in DC doing multi-systemic in-home family therapy for court-ordered clients.
-December 2005: graduated from grad school. Feel OLD. I'm not.
-Move to DC right before the New Year...temporarily move in with my aunt and uncle.
2006:
-January: start my new job
-January: quit my new job three weeks later. Proceed to be semi-unemployed for the next 4 months while nannying and working at Anthropologie.
-March 7: Meet Matt on a blind date that lasts 4 hours. We start dating immediately.
-I move into a crappy apartment with a crazy roommate I found on Craigslist.
-Get a *real* job working as a therapeutic foster care social worker in NE DC. Become very attached to 11 difficult children, and spend lots of time in court and on call 24/7. Extremely difficult job...but I learned more than I could have ever imagined.
-Matt and I brought Oscar home!
-5 months later, I (thankfully) move out into a my very first apartment with no roommates.
-Matt and I celebrate our first Thanksgiving together with my parents, who travel to DC for the holiday because Matt is on call.
2007:
-Hmmm. For some reason the entire year of 2007 is kind of drawing a blank for me. Did I do anything?
-Oh yes, I remember. Get a new and better job working as a medical social worker at George Washington University Hospital. I work on the cardiology/cardiac surgery unit, and also moonlight in labor/delivery/NICU and the neurology/stroke unit. Meet some of the most amazing girls who end up being my coworkers. Make lasting friendships.
-And also, Matt formally moved in with me, despite the fact that he had basically been living with me since I moved into the apartment.
2008:
-March 7: Matt and I get engaged at the restaurant where we had our first date. Excitement ensues. Set wedding date for November 8.
-April 12: Celebrate the wedding of our good friends Jenn and Ryan, who introduced us.
-Start thinking about what Matt is going to do when he gets out of the Army in September.
-Matt decides on grad school at Indiana University, and we start making plans to move to Bloomington.
-July 30th: Matt starts his terminal leave, and goes on a month-long roadtrip out west with his dad. I finish my last month at work and start the difficult and painful process of saying goodbyes.
-September 8: Military movers pack up our apartment.
-September 9: Pack remainder of important things in car (wedding dress, wedding suit, etc) and drive 11 hours to Bloomington. See new apartment for the first time (Matt's mom picked it out).
-September 10: Interview for my current job and nail it. Get asked back for a second interview and get hired a week later.
-September 13: My first bridal shower in Michigan.
-End of September: Matt comes to Michigan with me for the first time, and we get engagement photos taken. September is a busy, busy month.
-October 1: Start my new (current) job. LOVE it. And still do!
-October 11: Bridal shower in Indiana
-November 8: GET MARRIED!!!
-Go to Costa Rica on our honeymoon
-Celebrate our first Christmas together - ever - and our first Christmas as a married couple.
-Go to Oklahoma City to spend the end of December and New Years with my cousins.
2009:
-Turn 27. It seems old....getting awfully close to 30!
-Became a Big Sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters.
-Go to Charlotte, NC to visit with my friend Anna. We also visit my friend Cassie, who had a baby in April. So much fun!
-July: Matt gets his orders for a surprise deployment. Pretty crappy stuff, but at the time it seems so far away so I try to push it out of my mind.*
-Also July: Go on a Southern roadtrip with Lisa. We hit Charlotte, Charleston, Savannah, Tybee Island, Atlanta, Marietta, and Nashville...and have an amazing time!
-August: Start my second school year at my current wonderful job. My office moves into a closet. But I decorate it and fall in love with my tiny space.
-Matt starts his first semester of grad school and tries to concentrate on school instead of his deployment.
-Celebrate our first anniversary!!!
-We head to Michigan for my first Thanksgiving at home in several years.
-Spend Christmas with Matt's family before heading to Florida/Savannah/Nashville with my parents.
THE END! Wow. So much in my life has changed over the past ten years...I can only guess what the next ten years will bring. 10 years from now, I will hopefully be a mother, own a house in a place we will hopefully be semi-permanently, and...be almost 40. Yikes!
What I do not for sure is that this decade has been good to me, as I hope it has been for you. Happy 2010, internet friends!
*Deployment note: Not so far away anymore. Matt leaves two weeks from tomorrow. :(
9 comments:
holy moly you've been a busy girl - and coincidentally a lot of things on our decade in review would match up! the whole description of 9/11 is exactly the same as mine. watching on tv with my 3 roommates and then going to econ class where our professor told us to go home immediately. i remember calling my mom in chicago and being so scared. what a surreal day that whole thing was!
and 2 weeks until d-day, huh? well...you have a lot of fun stuff coming up this year WML and the time will just fly by!!
Hope this new decade brings you much happiness!!!! Hope the next 2 weeks go VERY slow for you!
Wow .. I learned so many things I didn't know. Like that you are old. Really, really, really old. :)
Thinking of you constantly over these next two weeks. And I agree with Jenn, you've got so much going on this year that it will fly by!
You've had a wonderful decade and here's to wishing you and Matt a wonderful new decade together!
xo
This is such a great idea! Loved reading it. I hope the next two weeks drag past slowly!
Holy geeze you've had quite the decade!!! I loved reading this!
Okay, and I know I need to reply to your emails, it has just been a lil' busy around the R household this past week (plus, I was super sicky and had to work on Jan. 1 because I took a sick day and I am a freakish overachiever like that...). So, soon my dear, promise.
Enjoy every day. And don't make too much of this last little bit of time or stress about it too much, just enjoy it. Hang in there...
OK, so I was SERIOUSLY relieved that Matt had mostly been living with you that whole time...crazy Craigslist roommates are bad news, sister! :-)
Happy New Year!
i loved reading this! I hope the two weeks go by so slow and the deployment goes by very quickly! We'll be here for you the whole time!
I had no idea you had traveled so much! I am thinking we should go over seas together. What do you say??
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