Ten Years.

"You've had a busy ten years!" The random person at the post office, grocery store, doctors office, church lobby, park, will say to me after asking the ages of the members of our small village.

And I will nod, give a little courtesy chuckle and say, "Yes, yes it has been a busy ten years." But not for the reasons they think.

Ten years ago I was a senior in high school. While the world worried about the end of the world, also known as Y2K, I drove around in my Buick LeSabre. Working part time at the local Target. You know those things called Target Cards. That was a big part of my job amidst cashiering and guest servicing. Get as many suckers guests to apply as possible.

I would walk through the store profiling prospective guests. Moms with big purses would always say no. Teenagers and college students, any way to save a buck. Men shopping alone, BINGO.

Sadly, now, I wonder how many people I helped set up on a path of debt.

That wasn't the only job I've held in the last ten years, I was a nanny, several times over and was a student worker. Worked at a coffee shop. Started and ended a job in Corporate America. Tried out some corporate relocations. Worked retail. Worked for our school district. And now I am a stay at home mom/stepmom. And I freelance.

And blog, of course.

In ten years time, I started at one college and finished at another. Met and married J. Became a stepmom. Became a mom. Lost my mom. And became a mom again.

Wait, read that one more time.

College.
Met the love of my life. Married him.
Became a stepmom to two small children.
Had a baby.
Lost my mom to cancer.
And had another baby.

It sure has been a crazy, filled to the rim, ten years of life.

And really, I can't complain.

Not a gamut of emotion has been spared. I have been joyous and loved the days of my life. I have been sad and grieved a huge loss. I have been overwhelmed, exhausted. But I also have learned a lot. I have let go. Or made good attempts to.

I have loved. I have been loved.

By more than just my own small village.

So that is why, when someone, assuming I've birthed four babes in ten years, watching us run haphazardly from basketball to swim lessons to soccer practice to preschool, says that I've had a crazy ten years, I go with it. Because regardless of their reason for saying it, it has been a busy, crazy, lovely ten years.

What about yours? How has your life changed in the last ten years?