Looking Back on a Decade

I began writing this post in the waning days of 2019, and then I forgot to post it.  Since I'm running late this morning, let me post it now.  Let me look back not just on the year, but also on the decade.  Let me think back to 2009.

Biggest Surprise in Terms of Housing:

In 2009, I'd have assumed we would never move, unless we moved out of state, or in our later years, if we needed to move to some sort of continuing care place.  In 2009, we lived in a paid off house  But in 2013, we moved to a house in a neighborhood I've always loved but assumed we would never be able to afford.  Thanks to a housing crash and cheap interest rates, we were able to make the leap.

This house, too, we planned to never leave, unless we move out of state or to a continuing care place.  But global warming and sea level rise may botch those plans.

Other Housing:

At times, it seemed we would never sell the condo that we bought for my spouse's mother.  She died just before real estate prices started to plummet.  Finally, in 2013, we sold it for exactly what we bought it for in 1999.

People gone:

Let me not go over the list of famous people or make a list of all the people who simply moved away.  Let me remember people like my grandmother and my best friend from high school.  Let me remember my former boss and good friend.  Let me remember the colleague who drowned in a diving accident.

But there are also all those people in my life who moved away.  It's still rather staggering.

Job Changes:

This was the decade that my spouse returned to teaching Philosophy.  I changed schools because I didn't think the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale would survive.  Yet I'm still surprised that it didn't survive.

In 2010, I stopped teaching for the most part as I became more entrenched in my administrator duties.  In 2013, I had a chance to teach online, and I grabbed it.  I wanted to diversify, in case the Art Institute went belly up--but I have been surprised by how much I've loved teaching online.

January 10, 2020:  I remember why I stopped writing this post--it began to feel overwhelming.  Do I talk about the motorcycles which once brought us joy but now have been flooded 2 times?  Do I talk about the internal shifts that make me ready to start my certificate program in spiritual direction?   Do I talk about how part of me still longs for seminary?

Do I talk about how many days I just want to liquidate it all and start over, if only I knew what starting over looked like?

Do I talk about the best 10 books of the decade?  How would I even begin?

Do I talk about the substantial changes in the weather and the climate?  I mean not only in the sense of literal storms and temperatures, but the political scenes, the worldwide situations?

Do I talk about physical changes?  Menopause and arthritic feet?  I recoil, but honesty might compel me. 

I am out of time.  Do I post this or postpone?  Hitting the Publish button and then off to spin class.