Dec 31, 2009 by Rochelle
Reflections on 2009 and the decade as a whole.
Sure I’ve done my “best of” list, but it’s time to put this year, and for that matter this decade, to rest with some final thoughts.
Every year I love to go on and on about what the year meant to me and all that. Somehow, I’m not quite feeling that.
What I do know is that this year was good. I loved this year. Sure it had it’s hard parts, but that’s to be expected.
Let’s summarize shall we about my goals for this year. They were to:
1. Finish my book.
2. Get divorced.
3. Go to Europe.
Well I’m proud to say that I’ve pretty much completed those goals.
Finish my book...
I didn’t do this exactly as was intended, but that’s ok. I made so much wonderful progress and I’ve learned so much about writing this year that I feel great about where it stands. I think I’m in a better position to begin a second draft! Also, I participated in NaNoWriMo and completed the challenge on a whole new story. That also makes me feel like I completed this goal.
Get divorced….
Well I think you know all about that. Any day now I will be signing the papers, but for all intents and purposes this is done.
Go to Europe…
How about England? This is the one goal I thought would be hardest out of reach, but I made it happen and I am so happy.
And so the year comes to an end and I’m here at work, like almost every other New Year’s Eve (becoming a tradition). I thought about listing out all the highlights, but I think I’ll pass. This blog is a testament to everything good and bad that happened this past year. If you don’t know, then you haven’t been reading.
And also the decade comes to a close. It was the first decade of my life where I was an adult the entire way through, yet I’ve grown up so much since it started! It’s not hard to remember where I was ten years ago at this very moment. I know for sure that I looked good! Velvet dress, adorable hair style. The world didn’t end, and we were all drunk and high and happy.
It started off so strong, and we were all so confident, and then everything changed on September 11. I’ve stopped seeing that as a time when we all united, but instead the start of when we all divided. The political climate of this decade has been horrible and angry and intense, and that’s what I will remember most about it. To me, it was some of the darkest years in our history. My hope for the new decade is that we can all start acting rationally again.
Technology has changed so much during this decade. I worked at ITS for this entire decade and it’s crazy to think of how technology was when I first started here. But the pendulum always swings and I feel like we’ve exhausted so many unnecessary technologies, I think we’re headed back to the basics. What’s funny to recall was when I heard a “futurist” speak at a conference in 2002. He said that handheld devices were the future and that people will one day soon expect to have it all on their mobile phones. I doubted that then. It just didn’t seem possible, and yet here I am today with an iPhone that does it all and that I’m never far from. He was completely spot on.
And love has been crazy. I started this decade heart broken and in love with someone who had just dumped me. I fell for a couple of other boys, and that didn’t work out, but that was okay. And then I got on Match.com. Got to date a yummy European boy, but he dumped me too, and then I met Brian. It’s crazy to think that in this decade I met someone, fell in love, moved in with him, got engaged and married, and now divorced. I would have never predicted that. Now I’m in this crazy good place that I think will only get better with time. My heart has calmed down and I’m confident and happy. It’s been a decade of love and heartbreak and that’s exactly how I would have wanted it to be!
This past decade has been all about indulgences. I don’t think that’s terribly unexpected for an American girl in her twenties. But as the new decade starts, I crave simplicity and control. Less food, less stuff, less spending. True and real maturity. I crave good health and good financial health. I feel pretty confident that I can shed the past decade and transition into a healthier more refined space.
So I welcome the next decade! I cannot wait for tomorrow.
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