A new decade, a new me?

Hello 2010! So far so good...

New Years has never been a favourite holiday of mine. I find it filled with pressure to "do something memorable" and often I wind up a little sad for no reason at all at midnight. This year, hubby & I specifically planned nothing. It was the best new year's ever - we ordered Chinese (yay said the preggo belly!), watched a little Mad Men marathon and then started laughing about the last decade. We've been together since a wee bit past new years 1997, make that January 3, 1998 and we were having some of pee-your-pants laughs about smart-ass new years past.

Anyhoo, for some reason the reality that this was not just another year but a new DECADE was lost on me until this morning. Maybe it's because after the the transfer into Y2K, another decade doesn't have as much importance or history? Or I'm just so lost in diapers it failed to catch my attention...

When I think about the DECADE thing though, my mind starts going a mile a minute in an attempt to process it.

Really, this past decade has been the only one where I've been a full-fledged independent ADULT the whole time.

Being born in the 70s means I spent the 70s & 80s as a child. The 90s were filled with coming of age stuff; going off to university and then graduating, hitting Europe and then embarking into the career world.

But the 2000's... we're talking about real stabilizing experiences here. We bought our first house in 2000 and got married in 2001. 2001-2005 were spent pretty much working hard on developing a career, renovating said 100 year old downtown city house and making travel a priority. The first half of the decade was selfishly all about ME.

Then 2005 hit and I became a mom. Good-bye Me, Hello Baby. The last half of the decade... gave birth, quit my job, bought a new house and moved to the 'burbs, had another baby, co-founded a little something called momstown.ca, and am now pregnant again.

That was certainly an ADULT decade. When we celebrated 2000 by screaming from our apartment balcony at Yonge & Eglinton, I didn't know all of what has happened, was about to happen. I didn't know that the coming decade would bring so much - both joy & frustration. I just hoped for the best and drank my champagne.

The cork is off of this decade and one day in I can't help but wonder what the next 10 years will bring?

In 2020... we will be one year off of celebrating TWENTY years of marriage (yikes), have 3 big kids aged 14, 12, 10 (scary), and likely still be living in this house in this town. Will I be home with those kids still? Will I want to be? momstown will be 12 years old and may not even resemble its current self at that point. Maybe I'll be back in the traditional workforce again? One thing for sure, darnnit, in 2020, I will NOT be pregnant again.

In 2020, I know family will still be my first priority but maybe, by then will I have figured out a way to add in more for myself? Will there be more or less time to work me in when kids are no longer babies? Will my old hobbies have time to resurface? Will I still be this tired? Will I still love what I do for work? Will date night still be so scarce? Will my 14 year old babysit the 10 year old? Most importantly, WHO will I be in 2020??

In 2020, after my 2nd 'adult decade' I'll sure to be a more seasoned adult than the one I've developed into during the last 10 years. Seasoned how? Maybe I should just not even think about it anymore. My horoscope this morning told me to live the year 'as it comes' and that 'time is your ally' which sounds like solid advice actually.

My only hope is that seasoned adult doesn't LOOK 10 years older..... (mental note, apply that night cream every night!!! there's something I wish I could tell myself circa 2000).