New Year's Eve and the Decade

I'm not so sure I like this title, but I'll go with it for now. Happy New Year everyone!

Everyone and his brother is looking back on the past year and the past 10 years, so I will throw in my version of this decade. Here goes . . .

2000 - Y2K, yes, we survived the "end of the world as we know it" scenario that was bandied about all the previous year. Glad that ended peacefully. Somewhere in this time frame (my memory is a little fuzzy here, so forgive me), didn't the Rams win the Superbowl? Didn't Big Mac smash Musial's batting record too? I may be off by a year or so, but I remember thinking, "What a way to start off a new century!" My little girl was in preschool and my little boy was in 2nd grade and had a horrible crush on his pretty teacher. I remember he wanted to change his name to "Chuck." I found out that was the name of the pretty teacher's boyfriend. I had just been promoted to technical writer at Enterprise Rent-a-Car and was making a pretty good salary. Things with Big Jack were difficult but we were getting by and finally getting bills under control.

2001 - 9/11 changed everything and the world will never, ever be the same again. My young son saw a plane in the air one morning and asked me if that was one of our planes or an enemy plane. A 3rd grade boy shouldn't have to worry about such things. Ever since, I had nightmares about a plane crashing into the school where my children were. We live only a few miles from Lambert Airport - it could happen.

2002 - I got laid off from Enterprise Rent-a-Car due to reorganization. It came as no surprise, I had long felt that the technical writing department had outlived its purpose. I miss a few people I worked with there, but not a lot. Enterprise gave me the leg up to start my education and begin a career I had been talking about for a long time. A few months after Enterprise, I began a retail job at Michaels. I thought I would only do it for a few months until something better came along. Little did I know I would be the event coordinator for Michaels for three years. I came out of the job stronger than when I went in - I learned how to manage projects and run my own department. That was something I never believed I could do before. The pay was deplorable, but the experience was valuable.

2004 - I began the year by enrolling at Webster University to begin my bachelor's degree in advertising/marketing communications. The kids thought it was really cool that Mom was in college. My young daughter asked me after I came home from my first night in class, "Mommy, did you make any new friends in school?" It would be a long time before I actually made any friends at Webster, but now I can say, yes, I believe I made some friends. My young son was in middle school and found the transition from elementary school to middle school was too difficult. He had to be placed in a special classroom for students with learning issues. My husband's mental and physical health continued to deteriorate.

2005 - Around this time (exact year is irrelevant), we found that Big Jack's father had Alzheimer's. My mother fell down her basement steps and broke her neck. After much physical therapy, she was able to come home but we soon moved her out of her house and into an independent senior living apartment complex. Her downward spiral had only just begun. I quit Michaels to take care of her.

2006 - My son was in high school and my daughter was in middle school. Jack's time in high school would always be a struggle. Sami started out with a bang - honor roll and student government and then the downward spiral began in 2008.

2009 - This year had bad year written all over it. Big Jack lost two uncles early in the year and it wasn't long before his father's physical health would rapidly deteriorate and Jim would pass away just before Thanksgiving. Big Jack had a mental and physical breakdown over the summer that eventually lead to a complete overhaul of all his medications. He is doing much better now - he's in counseling and has lost 100 pounds so far. Things are slowly looking better for him. Sami had an emotional meltdown that landed her in Edgewood. Counseling hasn't been much help, but involvement with a different Girl Scout troop, her high school color guard team, and some horseback riding seem to be helping her adjust to her new surroundings. She began high school this year and it's been a tough transition.

Jack finally graduated from high school - a little late. He is having trouble making the transition to "adult" life where he makes his own decisions. The sour economy hasn't helped his outlook, nor mine since it looks like I will be graduating in the spring of next year. Unemployment is the worst its been since the 80's and I remember those awful days. A bright spot in all of this gloom - the country elected its first black president, Barack Obama. It's too soon to tell if he's an effective leader.

I finished two internships - one at Veteran's Administration and another at Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis. Both internships were great experiences and I hope they will lead to jobs soon. Thanks to the wonderful social networking web site, Facebook, I am getting to know my husband's family members in Alabama that I would never had gotten to know otherwise. I had originally scoffed at such silliness as Facebook and MySpace, but now I'm an avid user of FB. MySpace is too young for me and Twitter is just plain annoying. Also, I am finishing the year with a completed collection of family recipes that have been received with great enthusiasm.

My outlook for 2010 has been it can't get much worse. Actually, it could but I don't really want to go there. Every year I try to think positive about the upcoming new year. So I'll continue to do just that. God Bless everyone in the coming year! Happy New Year!