How Life Has Changed in A Decade for Me

With the new decade here, I thought it would be fun to look back on how life has changed in a decade for me and my blog.  Ten years doesn’t seem like so long in the grand scheme of life.  However, things sure do change quite a bit in a short amount of time.

How Life Has Changed in a Decade

Family

Ten years ago I had a 4-year-old.  My baby is 14 now.  He will turn 15 in February.  I’ll spare you the “what happened to my baby???” novel, but when he was small it was hard to even imagine him being a teenager.  We’ve traded everything Thomas trains for video games and an iPhone, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I still love him to pieces and no matter how many years go by, that will never change.

In 2010, hubby and I had been married for 10 years.  We celebrated 20 this past year!  We have truly tested the vows of our marriage in those twenty years…for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health.  Today, we are more blessed than we deserve and we also get a lot more sleep, so everyone is feeling good (because our son is 14 and sleeps through the night…and sleeps, and sleeps, and sleeps…)

Pets

Unfortunately, in ten years’ time, we have had to say goodbye to all of our cats.  We lost Bonnie in 2009. We said goodbye to our big, beautiful Clyde (bonnie’s littermate) in 2018.  He was 17 years old.  And we just had to say goodbye to our sweet Pearl girl a few months ago.  We adopted Pearl after Bonnie died and she lived to be 14 years.  A few months before Pearl died, our neighbor’s cat named Jake took a big liking to us and he has pretty much made himself at home.

We let him come and go as he pleases (he was mostly an outdoor cat), but this big orange fluffball sleeps with me just about every single night.  #borrowedcats

Jobs

In 2011 I went back to work as a school librarian after being a stay at home mom.  Although I have changed schools a couple of times, I’m still working full time.  Some days are tough, but the good ones are more frequent and it keeps me going.  Hubby changed jobs in 2014 and he is still driving for the same company.

Health

Whooo boy!  Wow, how life has changed in a decade for me.   I was always a tired mom.  Shopping trips or even just family trips wore me out.  The reason for the extreme tiredness was finally discovered in 2016 and I had to have an emergency double bypass heart surgery.  I also just had my gallbladder removed almost three months ago.  Do you know what?  I feel AMAZING!  How many people can say they feel BETTER ten years later?  I am so thankful and appreciate each new day.

Living Quarters

We’ve moved three times in 10 years!  Thankfully, each new place was very nearby in the same town.  We sold our first house.  We lived in an apartment for a few years and we bought another home in 2016.

Life

Probably the most significant loss I experienced in these 10 years was my dad passing away in 2015.  I still miss him so much and my grandmother now lives with my mom.  I’m so thankful they have each other as it’s helped my mom transition so much better having her mom so close.

Blog

This blog has certainly transitioned in 10 years.  10 years ago this was a small blog that made no money.  Things started booming around 2013 for the blog as far as sponsorships and ad revenue and this hobby turned into a great little side gig.  However, things change.  Requirements for sponsored posts have gotten much more strict as far as how big of a readership and following you have to have.  I’ve also aged-out of most parenting gigs and I’m totally fine with this slower pace.  This blog is now back to hobby status as far as earnings, but I’ve turned selling on eBay into my side gig.  I still love this blog and I hope ten years from now I will still be writing here.

This is how life has changed in a decade for me.  I’ll turn 46 this year.  It’s amazing how time flies by!