Everything I Needed to Know, I Learned in 2009

How did 365 1/4 days go by that fast?  It was a major year of adjustment. That is probably the one word theme that sums it all up-“adjustment.” Second to that theme: count.thy.blessings. To think that circa 1/1/09, I thought 2009 would be kind of lame, but a wished-for ‘state of lame’. Pregnancy #2 behind me, return to a job I enjoyed and paid what we needed to maintain lifestyle. No big purchase of car, home, no [planned] critical home repairs (are the critical ones ever planned?) …the task of 2009 was just “learn the game, and then stay the course”.

HM. Ok, try that again. Change 2009 to 2010, and try it. Again.

Highlights and lowlights:

1. Above all else, survival. One weekday to the next, 2 kids, 2 daycare locales- on time drop-offs, pick-ups. About 1 1/2 miles, 7 mins apart. Could be WAYYYYY worse. Fri 5pm-Mon 7am? The clock must’ve sped up, never enough time.  
2. Home to cook dinner with hungry chubby baby demanding some attention. Finish cooking, eating, tub time, bed time (kids) then bed time (mine- husband could usually be counted on to fall asleep with child(ren).) So, I got used to “minimal  time to self” quite quickly.
3. For most of his 16 mths, hungry chubby baby had been the EASIEST infant in the world. Though, I’m starting now to refer to him as “the wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Because he started off quite serene. Nope, he was lying in wait. He’ll be (read, is) our louder, rougher and occasionally more challenging child. No doubt about it. The older one, “moody” but I think we’ve gotten through the worst toddler/preschooler behavior he’ll throw at us.  Younger son will sustain a winning smile and completely defy us while staring us in the eyes.
4. Speaking of children and “you take the good, you take the bad,” I dove much further into the ‘mom blog’ world, and cyber-met some wonderful families, whose blogs and stories are so captivating, they quickly became part of my DAILY (yes, I said DAILY) repertoire. Sadly, they’ve come to my attention because of great tragedy. But their stories have become so important to me. This whole mom blog thing.. well, we’ll see where this path brings me. The breadth and energy of the community is astounding. If I feel like I have something worthwhile to share, outside of documenting L&A’s lives, I might develop this into something more. [In all that free time I have]. But, I’m quite wrapped up in the readership aspect for now, while walking a fine line on not becoming a stalker.
5. Kind of related, I actually READ A BOOK this summer. I hope I read more than one, but the one that I’m remembering is Elizabeth Edwards’ “Resilience.” OH MY GOSH. LOVED it, loved it, and loved it some more. Oprah made me do it after her interview with EE in May. This one is a keeper for my collection. Then, I went out and bought another one of EE’s books, “Saving Graces”, but I haven’t read that one fully yet. I thought I’d pick it up again last week after JE’s newest confession about the true paternity of the love child but I haven’t had the stomach for any more exposure to the guy.
6. Back to that whole job thing- the bottom dropped out of that one, didn’t it? I had quite the education on “what you think won’t happen to your company.. well, it will.” Naivete and un-substantiated optimism, “0” lost the game to hard-cold-world of corporate finance “1.” 
7. My silver lining- at home 100% for 5 months, kids in daycare, which HOLY WOW- this summer defined work-life balance in our household. In fact, it wasn’t balanced at all. Much more “life” than work. And daytime TV (really missing my daily doses of Matt/Meredith/Al/Anne, Ellen and Oprah). And getting PAID for it, as well with decreased BE workload, nice severance and PTO payout. Made out much better than I did in 2 previous maternity leaves.
8. Job search. Oh my. So much harder than I thought it would be. Of course, I worked the networking angles, had lots of warm/hot leads and interviews-- and the position I still ended up snagging? They found me on Monster.com. Completely an after-thought to even post my detes there. And THAT is what came through in the end as the right fit. Still shaking my head in wonder.
9. New job- LOVE the “40 hours/wk and I DON’T MEAN 41” commitment. I leave at 4:40p to start the daycare pickups (but I’m at my desk at 7:30a.- ish.) I like the team, but dearly miss my old BE team. I like that they needed someone like me (and the other guy that started with me) SO BADLY. Good shot to ego. Needed that good shot after the generous kicks of reality I was handed during the search. 
10. Sick-kid “Gods” got a good laugh at our expense during weeks 2 and 3 of new job. One kid one week, 2nd kid the other.  Their dad pulled major time off from work, as well as paternal grandparents who were MERCIFULLY just back from travel. And these sick days- not our normal 1 or 1 1/2 days here and there. Truly, unprecedented 3- 3 1/2 days out PER child, per WEEK. Was about to import ‘Grandmom from GA’ if we had one more day of it.
11. Finally, two “well before my time” experiences: water aerobics and 2 basal cell skin cancer removals. And not only water aerobics, when my Saturday class median age was .. well, way higher than my 36 yrs, but occasionally water aerobics during the middle of the workday (goes back to item #5 above) – the median age THEN was higher than Saturday’s class. At least the Sat class had good music. At the skin cancer dr office- 2 times, 2 different spots on my nose DUG OUT of my skin (yes, oh my OUCH)- many remarks from staff about how they don’t see people “my age” much- these things usually surface much later. Yes, yes- I’m doomed due to genetic makeup and have a renewed appreciation for sunscreen.

11 items. I feel like I learned more than that in a year. I’ll go for 12 in 2010. A belated Happy New Year to you all…