Adios, 2010s!

New Subaru and BABIES, March 2010

Like many of us, I think, I'm inundated by a hodgepodge of feelings around the beginning of a new year--typically nostalgia about the uplifting parts of the previous 12 months, along with eagerness to put the less pleasing aspects firmly behind me, mixed with a healthy measure of excitement and anticipation about what I know is coming...plus the possibility of (hopefully positive, of course!) surprises during my next trip around the sun. But...2020, y'all. That has such a...momentous ring...doesn't it? And we're just going to skip right over the debate about whether the previous decade truly ends at 19 or not, blah blah blah, 'kay? For me, it seems like as good a time as any to reflect upon the past 10 years and see...well...what's happened in this little old life. So without further ado, here's a...hmm...let's call it a non-comprehensive highlight summary of The Chronicles of Me...with substantial guest appearances by the Male Trio.

--First of all, I wrote NINE HUNDRED EIGHTY blogposts. I just...I can't even...whoooaaaaa. That's a whole lotta stories, creative punctuation, made-up words, and general nonsense. Which neatly leads me to some of the reasons for said "creative license"...

--Team WestEnders was fortunate enough to be able to do some pretty epic exploring. Our wanderings kicked off with a cruise (with stops in the Bahamas and Virgin Islands), and a super-scenic road trip (encompassing Boston, Niagara Falls plus a bonus visit with Rochester friends, and Cooperstown, NY). In what's come to be known as our "Central American Phase", we visited Mexico, Costa Rica, and Belize. When I was still laboring under the impression that I could get everyone on board for relocating to the West Coast, we did a nice long look-see in the Bay area of California. Even though my diabolical scheme ultimately didn't work (more on that in a moment) it seemed to lead us to our current "Westward Ho" agenda, in which we've already touched upon Seattle, Colorado (Denver and Boulder), and Vancouver, BC.

--In the middle of all this, of course, we did pack up and move the fam...from MD to NC. This has given us a whole new state for gallivanting, which was part of the reason I was ready for a literal "change of scenery"! We've had a blast getting to know the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill), as well as roaming further afield, to cool places like Asheville (the lovely mountains!), Wilmington (aaahhh, the beach!), Greensboro (minor league baseball's Grasshoppers...and a cool science museum!) and Charlotte (waaay too many delightful things to list!). On my own, I've also meandered through some other interesting towns, like Winston-Salem (Wake Forest U.), Fayetteville (charming holiday festival), New Bern (birthplace of Pepsi! You know, among other nifty stuff), Mt. Airy (Andy Griffith's childhood home, and the model for TV's Mayberry), Halifax (colonial re-enactment, for a change) and Carolina Beach (again with the sun, sand, and surf...yes, please!). And just because we happen to enjoy it so much, we've made our way down to Atlanta a couple of times for long weekends o'fun.

Mid-decade: Costa Rica 2015

--Not that all of our wandering is so large-scale: we've also taken quite a few field-trippy-type excursions, either with the full squad, or me and the boys on school-free days. If you're paying attention, you'll undoubtedly notice a couple of recurring motifs here, but I'll make it easy on you by saying that most of them involve either Civil War sites, hiking...or both. For example, I dragged--um "introduced"--the kids to Manassas/Bull Run and Winchester (VA), Antietam/Sharpsburg and Cumberland (MD), and Gettysburg and Hanover (PA). We all ventured to Harper's Ferry (WV), Valley Forge and Pittsburgh (PA), Catoctin (MD), Great Falls and Williamsburg/Jamestown (VA), and Charleston (SC). On my own, because I'm not only a history nerd, but also just a little bit inexplicably obsessed with battlefields, I added Fredericksburg, Petersburg, Chancellorsville, Monticello, Montpelier, and Richmond (all in VA), and nearby war-related locales like Bennett Place and Bentonville in NC.

--And sometimes, believe it or not, we do actual...leisurely things! Like enjoying America's pastime, to the tune of countless Orioles contests (both at Camden Yards and on the road), 14 minor league affiliates (mostly Durham Bulls), and 8 stadiums while on vacation (AT&T Stadium of the San Francisco Giants, Coors Field for the Rockies, Braves' Turner Field and SunTrust Park, Fenway, Seattle Mariners' Safeco Field, Nationals Park, the Pirates' PNC Park). Mind you, on other occasions we do somewhat less sitting around...and more, say, "running". In fact, since we took up 5K races as a hobby of sorts in 2013, our scorecard looks like this: Husband 13; Derek 18; Riley 27 and yours truly...34. (Whoo hoo! What do I win? Please tell me it's chocolate, after all that effort?)

--Since we're on the subject of, well, ME, the 2010s marked my first complete decade as a full-time, committed vegetarian. And, as I've written about in some detail over the course of this period, I switched-up my career (not voluntarily, but as an expected consequence of the transfer to NC...and I rolled with it), and held 3 (very different, but all fulfilling in their own way) jobs during that time. Who knows, maybe the current (still pretty brand new) one will hold me through the 20s...is that even possible? (Stay tuned...) Meanwhile, Husband continues rolling contentedly along in the industry he's been a part of since he graduated from college...and with the same company for the past 15 years...who incidentally allowed him to keep his position when we vacated Maryland and simply convert to a home-based model. So he basically gets up in the morning, throws on weather-appropriate athletic wear, and stumps downstairs for coffee and meetings. Yep, somebody's gotta be the stable partner in this relationship! (1-2-3, NOT IT!)

Holiday photo 2019

--And finally, as you can imagine, the sons have gone through some pretty major changes in the last 10 years of their young lives (besides the obvious GROWTH). Let's see, both of them "graduated" Elementary and Middle Schools, and Derek finished the whole enchilada when he earned his High School diploma in 2018. During the latter stages of that process there were naturally college tours (Clemson, University of South Carolina, Penn State, University of Maryland, UNC Charlotte, James Madison, Virginia Tech), on which some or all of us accompanied him. Then he selected the Other Carolina--becoming a proud member of Gamecock Nation--and I got to tag along for the Admitted Students event, Orientation, and all too soon, Move-In Day...also called "Mom Has a Breakdown" (I'm fine, it's all good, I recovered..eventually!) Now Derek is cruising through his Sophomore year...and as an 11th-grader, Riley's ramping up his own research about where he wants to end up for his collegiate experience. And the inevitable process of Growing Up continues unabated....siiiiighhhhh....

Woooow....that was...a lot. I know I said this little ramble down Memory Lane was meant focus on the joyful happenings, but as we move forward into the fresh decade, I also want to recall the special people we lost--my mom, a treasured great-aunt, and my sister-in-law...watching over us, sharing our triumphs, commiserating in our failures, and no doubt cheering on our next set of adventures. And there you have it! In the immortal (unapologetically stolen and paraphrased) words of Buzz Lightyear: To 2020...and beyond!