2009: The year that was

Now that we have officially completed our holiday season and things are getting back to business, I thought I'd reflect for a minute on the significant happenings in our world over the past year.  We've definitely had a lot of change, that's for sure.  Maybe if I actually put it in writing I'll finally learn to slow things down a little.

Will.  First and foremost, the birth of our son in May, after a solid two-year struggle to become parents.  The single most amazing, joyous, emotional happening in our lives to date.

30.  Josh moved into the world of the thirty-something in April and did so without the bat of an eye.  We celebrated of course, despite my being eight months pregnant and moooving verrryy sllowww.  I must admit I was thrilled to see him leave his twenties, as that meant we finally shared the same age range again.

Uproot.  We decided to make a major change and move back to our hometown in August.  With it came brand new...everything.  Adjustment was harder than I/we expected, and I think we're still working on it.  We miss Iowa City terribly, so it's reassuring that it's only 90 short miles away. 

Mountains.  We finally got back to Colorado over Thanksgiving.  It had only been a little over a year since I'd been there, but it had been over two for Josh.  It was as if we'd never left and we cannot wait to go back. 

Hawks. Boy did our boys give us some serious heart failure this year. Talk about playing with emotions! I'm surprised any Hawk fan's blood pressure survived the whirlwind that was football season 2009. Here's looking to 2010 and what we all are hoping will be what this season should have been.

Grandma.  Josh's grandma Sherry passed away in January after suffering from Alzheimer's for a few years.  Her passing was a very sad time although there was much relief that she was no longer in the place she had been for so long.  I'll never forget how welcoming she was to me when I first met her and the rest of Josh's family...we were always able to "talk shoes" whenever we saw each other and it always made me feel so much more comfortable.  I am truly grateful for having been able to know her. 

Lemon pie.  Shortly before Christmas my great-aunt Fran passed away after a long illness.  For years she and I shared an affinity for lemon pie, and often when she and Uncle Paul came to Keosauqua to visit she would bring one with her "for the two of us to share".  She was a bright, shining star wherever she went, with a laugh that could put a smile on the unhappiest of faces, and she will be dearly missed. 

Thriller.  How could I go through 2009 memories and not mention the death of Michael Jackson?!  Although I am well past my teenage years and, sadly, like many others had written him off as his musical hits faded and his life became one big circus act, I was devastated when I learned that he was gone.  His solo music had been a constant in the entertainment world throughout my growning up years, literally from my elementary school days clear through college.  So to say the news of his passing was a shock to the system is an understatement...I can now admit that for a week after his death I cried every time I would see any of his '80s or '90s-era footage in the constant stream of Michael TV. (Mind you I was 6 weeks postpartum, but I guess we'll never know how I might have reacted otherwise.)  I am a huge music fan, and I guess until he died I had always taken for granted what he had done.  His songs were a significant part of the soundtrack to my life thus far, so for him to be gone it's as if the door to that chapter of my life has officially closed. 

Anyway on a lighter note, I am apparently very slow anymore because it dawned on me just a few days before New Year's Eve that we were not only wrapping up another year, but an entire decade. The thought had never once crossed my mind that, like the groovy '70s, rad '80s and grunge-y '90s before now, the first ten years of the twenty-first century are history.  Excuse me, what?  I simply can't believe that we partied like it was 1999 ten.years.ago.  Sigh.  Such is life.  I guess all we can do now is see what kind of crazy Century 21, Decade 2 has to bring.