Reflections

As far as years go, 2009 has been the best of my life. It had its hardships – but all were overcome and I am leaving this year with a sense peace and very little unfinished business.

The Good:
After being engaged for nearly 2 years – Tim and I started to plan our wedding for May 2009. It was hard work – such hard work that I often compared it to having a second part time job. When I wasn’t at work or doing my extra activities, I was meeting with someone about something. As money conscious as we are – there was a fair amount of stress trying to balance our needs, wants and checkbook.

The wedding really was a beautiful time for us. Although the wedding was the highlight, having our parents, siblings and family and friends for the week preceding the ceremony was the best! We visited, ate and drank to our hearts content.

The wedding was awesome! I have no real complaints. There were a few issues – like the cake that was supposed to feed 100 people was easily big enough to feed 300 people. There were a few no-shows…and honestly that is probably the biggest annoyance of the day. Other than that it was the best. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better day. I kept looking at Tim thinking “Wow…he’s my husband now…” After this long together you would think that such a simple thing wouldn’t have mattered – but it did then and still does now.

Right from the wedding we headed off on our honeymoon. One of the best parts of the trip is that because of the swine flu – we were able to stay at a really fancy resort for a much better price. Oh…and all that gourmet food…mmmmmm.

Coming home from Mexico to find out we were having a baby was surreal. Although we had been trying to get pregnant – I remember doing and saying nothing for a long time. So long that Tim started to get worried.

Less than 10 days later I quit smoking. I had deluded myself into thinking it would be easier to do this once I found out I was pregnant. If getting pregnant took a year – I wanted another full year of smoking. Creating and nourishing the life inside of me was not and sometimes still isn’t reason enough in my head not to smoke. To quell your fears – I have not resumed my nasty habit and don’t plan to.

The Bad:
*I had to re-write this section a couple times. I don’t like complaining so I decided I would just list point form.

• Work struggles.
  My brothers did not come to our wedding.
  Quitting smoking. (This gets to be in both the good and the bad column)

So what would I change about 2009? Nothing, Nada, Zip. For real people!!! I am not exaggerating. 95% of my year rocked and the parts that sucked are worth it if they made the rest better.

I am not big on New Year Resolutions…but I thought I would list some of the things I look forward to in 2010.

Meeting our baby and all of our firsts together.
Learning to be a mom.
Loving my husband more and more each day.
Making decisions about our life and what we are going to do with our futures.
Resuming my piano lessons.
Losing the baby weight.
Continuing life smoke free.
Paying off my last student loan?!? When I left school I had nearly $55,000.00 in debt. The goal is to be student debt free by the time I am 30. Tim and I both have worked so hard to get rid of the loans and we are down to 1 loan. Although I am immensely proud of this – I also want to accomplish a goal that I set 6 years ago when I graduated.
Our big visit to Ontario.

To all of you who might be reading – Thank YOU! As only my family and friends have this address, that means you played a role in making 2009 the best year ever. I think we can all look forward to 2010 and all the greatness to come!