Jam 1: The Decade is Over???

Over the past couple of days there’s been this meme going around twitter:

Thought 1: Holy crap, a DECADE??

Thought 2: I had a baby. She died.

Thought 3: That’s it.

Those are certainly decade-defining events, if not life defining events. But then I thought, “Well, let’s see what else has happened in the last 10 years,” which encompassed my entire 30s. In no particular order, between 2010 and 2019:

- We bought a house

- We got married

- I assistant-directed two shows, was Front-of-House manager for seven more, and stage-managed one

- I earned my Masters of Education

- I taught 1,208 students (yes, I counted)

- I got three tattoos 

- We adopted three cats

- I started #aplangchat and racked-up 1,418 twitter followers

- We survived two major hurricanes and a freak October snowstorm

- I gained and lost a wonderful Mother-in-Law, and I lost a grandfather. I lost several former students and some friends to suicide and addiction.

- I slept in the woods 11 times, and bought a camper to make it more comfortable

- I read 133+ books (I only really started tracking in 2015)

- I read 16,297ish student papers (yes, I counted)

- I saw 44+ Broadway shows (again, I only really started tracking in 2015)

- I stood up for what I believed at the 2017 Women’s March on Washington

- I attended a fancy black-tie gala

- I had a student teacher

- I got pregnant four times, and none of them survived, while I watched dozens of friends, family, and acquaintances go on to have healthy babies

- I bought 2 subarus (not at the same time, and I only really liked one of them)

- I had five surgeries

- I went to the AP Reading seven times and scored nearly 7,000 AP student essays… and if you add those to my own students’ essays listed above…. Hooooo, boy!

- I met my best teacher friends and kept my best lifelong friends

- I traveled to Cozumel, Washington DC, St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Las Vegas, Holden Beach NC, Myrtle Beach, New York City, Nashville, Point Pleasant NJ, Seaside Heights NJ, Philadelphia, Honolulu, Lahaina, Phoenix, Louisville, Kansas City, Madison WI, Sandusky OH, Chicago, Marlinton WV, Berlin, Munich, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Frankfurt, Atlanta, Lancaster, Denver, Finger Lakes NY, and before the year is over, Baltimore.

And yes, I had a baby. 

And she died. 

That is a huge life-defining thing. But it’s not the only thing. When I look back on this decade, it’s so easy to focus on the horrors. But look what I’ve done. Look what I’ve experienced. I am so, so, so lucky.