Reflection on my 20s

I had a birthday last month and thus entered the last year of my twenties. In looking back over the last ten years, I can't believe how much I've changed, my life has changed, how many places I've been and lived and how many things I've done. If I had to use one word to describe my 20s it would be this: tumultuous. Things have been ever-changing and kind of rough, if I'm going to be completely honest with you. My twenties had some fun moments but I can't say they've been my best ten years. I've made some really good decisions and some really really bad ones. I've loved a lot and I've lost a lot. I've hurt people and I've been hurt. I've had some amazing adventures. I've tried new things and succeeded, and tried other things and failed.
I'd like take a trip back 10 years and see just how full the last decade had been.

20 - I turned twenty just before my junior year of college. I worked at Kodak that summer with my dad. I was in a serious relationship with a guy who I thought about marrying. (And didn't, I might add. I hadn't even MET Charles when I turned 20, even though he was on the same campus as me.) I ended up going through a really hard break up that lasted most of the year. I went to Ireland that year with my parents, brother and grandparents on a trip I'll never forget.

21 - Summer of my 21st year I traveled with Godspeed (a music team). It was, to date, the best summer of my life. It was stretching and challenging and exhausting and very, very rewarding. Also that year I started dating Charles, got engaged to Charles, went to Russia and graduated from college. (In that order.)

22 - I got my first real job - Hillside Children's Center. It pretty much popped the little bubble I'd lived in when I saw what much of the world was really like. I worked with great people and made some great friends. Most importantly, I got married!!! We had a small apartment in the home of some close friends. We played tons of games, had tons of fights, and learned some hard lessons that year.

23 - We lived with my parents for a few weeks before we moved to Australia. That was one of the roughest years of my life - although in the prettiest setting! However, in spite of the difficulties, we met some people that we will cherish forever. It was also the only year of my 20s that I didn't have an official job and got to sleep in a lot. (Although I stayed PLENTY busy being a pastors wife - cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, leading worship, going on house visits with Charles, trying to stay sane...)

24 - We went to New Zealand (for our official honeymoon) and visited friends and hiked in the Bay of Islands. We moved to Kentucky. I got my first job in a Financial Aid office as a Financial Aid Consultant. (Basically, it was a long shot job that I completely lucked into. And by "lucked" I mean it was a complete God-thing.) I met Kate Patterson - my future sister-in-law and one of my closest friends. We lived in the crappiest apartment of all time.

25 - We went to Israel on an archeological dig. I got my first office with a window. Charles got his masters degree. We vacationed in Florida and I got to introduce Charles to the wonders of Disney World.

26 - We moved back to NY after I got a job as a Financial Aid Counselor at Houghton College (my alma mater). We lived in the most beautiful apartment you've ever seen, on 40 acres with woods and a pond, we had great landlords. I went to California with my family for my cousin's wedding and we ran our first 5K!

27 - I got my first promotion - to Senior Financial Aid Counselor. Charles started his PhD and commuted to Toronto every week. We vacationed in DC, which I had never been to before. I started giving piano lessons.

28 - I got a job as Assistant Director of Financial Aid at the University of Rochester. We moved to Avon. We looked around for Churches but never quite settled on one. We went on a couples vacation to Florida and Charles and I went to Chicago where i got to watch him present a paper at a big conference. My granda died. Charles and I made some major decisions regarding our lives and our marriage and those decisions are starting to pay off.

To sum up: in the last 10 years I've had 7 jobs (not counting Aural Skills tutoring and piano lessons), lived in 8 different places, been to 5 different countries, and had way too many adventures to recount. It has been a crazy, crazy decade. With that kind of topsy-turvey life it's no wonder we have no plants and 1 betta fish!

29 -  has started out tumultuous as well. Charles is working a PT job in the city, teaching a class in Toronto AND working on his comps. We became a 2-car family for the first time in our (almost) 7 years of marriage. I was just promoted to Senior Assistant Director of Financial Aid and am jumping head first into deep and scary waters of interfaces and supervising. I started my first Masters class this fall at the Warner School of Education. It's challenging and it makes me think about my future career but so far I'm LOVING it! Life is definitely different now that homework is involved again. In spite of all the stress that constant change brings, Charles and I are probably definitely the happiest we have ever been! We've fought our way through some giant obstacles and are starting to see the light on the other side. We also found a church that we love which has been a huge answer to prayer. We've reconnected with some old friends, which was desperately needed. That being said, I'm hoping that as my 20s brought adventure and craziness that my 30s will bring adventure but also some stability. As I near the end of my twenties and enter my thirties I'd like to start thinking about a family. I'd like to buy a house. I'd like to really turn my life around from what it has been and start following God in a way that I haven't since my early 20s. I'd like to learn to control (or even get rid of) my temper. I want to learn to love better. I want to be challenged in my work, but stick to one place of employment! I want Charles to graduate with his PhD. I have so so many dreams and I'm so excited for what life is going to bring in my next 10 years.