The Year That Ended the Decade

 

A decade.

10 years.

Seems like a daunting amount of time.

But really.  It’s not. 10 years can soar by in a heartbeat.

Yet so much can happen in that heartbeat.

Life happens in that heartbeat. So much life.

……………………..

In this decade….time moved so swiftly. It tiptoed and stomped. It swept past me, took my hand and twirled me around, dipped and spun, threw me in the air, dropped me on the ground and then picked me back up.

Time passed.

In a heartbeat.

………………………..

But you know what can happen in a decade?

A little boy can go blind and then see again.

Little boys turn into young men.

They go from learning to read to discussing the eccentricity of Edgar Alan Poe. From simple addition to geometry. From playgrounds and swing sets to baseball fields and cars.

Adults move from youngish to middle aged. From middle aged to oldish.

Houses can be built. Houses can be torn down by wind and rain and uncontrollable elements,  and houses can be rebuilt in a different way. Maybe better. Maybe worse.

Sometimes you just move into a new house.

Mountains can be climbed. Sometimes mountains need to be crawled up on your hands and knees. Sometimes you fall down the side of the mountain. And sometimes you stand at the bottom for a really long time and turn around a take a swim in the lake because mountain climbing isn’t in the cards that day.

Oceans can be crossed. Sand can squish in your toes. Ice can form on your eyelashes. Deserts can be navigated and sometimes they are cold, but the stars are much brighter there.

Friendships can be made. Friendships can be lost. Jobs come and jobs change. Career paths veer.

We can lose people. And never know what they were to us until they were gone.

We can meet people and never know what life was until they were here.

Disease can wreak havoc. Disease can be stopped and transposed.

Fortunes can be made and lost.

If you think you can’t survive something….you can.

You can be burned. You can be run over. You can break. You can electrocute yourself with twinkle lights.  All of that is

definitely survivable…..

A lot can happen in a decade, and survival is just part of it. Thriving is part of it. Smiling and crying. Death and new life.

A decade may feel like a blink of an eye when looking back at it. But so much life happens in that blink.

…………………..

This last year of this decade, I declared at the beginning of the year, I wanted to be epic.

It was epic for sure. In ways I never expected.

I crossed things off my list. I saw parts of the world I never imagined seeing. I traveled with my parents. I spent time hot summer days with my son and sweet summer evenings with kids and families. I sat in bleachers for more hours than I can count. I cheered. I planted gardens. I jumped in puddles.  I picked the first colored leaves off the trees when they came. I broke myself pretty epically. I survived. I worked hard. I played hard. I got up every morning and greeted the day. Some days were really hard. Some days I bound out of bed to see the sun.  I celebrated life.

It was epic.