Looking back on the last decade

It only occurred to me the other day that we were heading into a new decade.  The last decade end seemed to pass me by.  I wasn’t really using social media back then and the kids were all quite young, so life was too hectic to really give it any thought and 2010 came and went without any real thought.  Fast forward ten years and with the blog and social media, there are constant reminders that we have passed another ten year milestone.

In the spirit of the new decade, I thought that I would look back at the last ten years and think how and if my life has changed.

Family

The size hasn’t changed.  My youngest daughter was born in 2009 and we made the decision that she would be the final piece of our family jigsaw.  My eldest was 14, the two teens were 4 and 5 and little miss A was a babe in arms.

Life was certainly different back then, with three very young children. The boys were lively but luckily their sister was such an amazing baby that somehow we managed to get through those early years.  Our house has changed so many times over the last ten years in order to accommodate the growing needs of a growing up family and it would be safe to say that we have had more than our fair share of bedrooms changes and room reshuffles to keep everyone happy.

Family life has been a rollercoaster that is for sure. Looking back over ten years, we have had it all.  Toddler tantrums, tween strops and teenage trauma.  I have seen my eldest son succeed at high school, excel at university and settle into adulthood.  My eldest teen is nearly16 and is working really hard in his final year of GCSEs.  Life with teen number two has been an interesting one.  Dealing with his anxiety has been one of the hardest things we have faced as parents but with our support and understanding, he is now a lot happier and more settled than we have seen him for a long time.  Little miss A is not so little any more. December saw her head into double figures and a new obsession with clothes and makeup means that she is growing up far too fast.

I am such a proud mum.  When I look at how much they have all achieved in the last ten years and what amazing young people they are, they inspire me so much.

This year saw the addition of our Labrador puppy Liberty.  After years and years of refusing to have anything other than goldfish, oh and a bearded dragon who only lived for a few weeks, we finally relented. I’m both glad that we did finally relent as she has been an amazing addition to our family but also glad we waited as she has been hard work and it is easier now the kids are more grown up to manage them and her.

Work

This is an area of life that has seen a lot of changes for me.  I am a French teacher but gave up teaching full time in 2005, long before 2010 to be a full time mum.  Ten years ago, that was my job, full time mum and it was a job that always kept me busy.  I was also tutoring French back then, a job I loved and still love today.  It is flexible and fits in with the demands of family life and I have been so lucky to meet and work with some of the loveliest people over the last ten years.

I started blogging in 2011 and after a couple of years, this opened up new possibilities and ideas and I also worked as a freelance writer for a number of years alongside the blogging.  I did enjoy this as I love writing, but I did miss being in a school, so in 2015 I started working as a TA in a local middle school.  It was a brilliant school to work in and I loved being there, I started teaching some French too and things were amazing but I had to leave after two years to focus on family.

Having taken a break from tutoring, I started again and quickly found my hours filled with a range of different students ranging from 3 to 70 and I have never been so busy.  Last September, I also started working part time as a French Language Assistant in a local secondary school and I can honestly say that it is my ideal job.  I love it.

I still want to write and the one ambition I have for this decade is to finally sit down and write the book that has been rattling around in my head for the last few years.

Blogging

Incredibly it is nearly ten years since I first took those tentative steps into the world of blogging. I had no idea back then what a journey it would be, the incredible people I would meet, the amazing opportunities I would have.  It has been one of the best things I have ever done without a doubt.

The biggest highlight will always be working with Disney and going to Florida to review Walt Disney World.  This was the holiday of a lifetime for our family and something we will always talk about for years to come.  That wouldn’t have been possible without this blog and I still have to pinch myself that it even happened.

There have been ups and downs of course but more ups thankfully and above everything, I still love having a little corner of the internet where I can share my stories and offload if I need to.  These days, I don’t have as much time to blog as I did and now it is less about statistics and more about just enjoying writing, it is still therapeutic and as long as I enjoy it, I will keep doing it.

Home

We are still in the same house as we were ten years ago.  We have lived here now for nearly 20 years incredibly and we have no plans to move anytime soon.  When the kids were younger, we talked about moving out to a village which would have been lovely, but in honesty, once the kids became teens, they love living in a town and out gives them independence to be able to go out and do things without constantly having to rely on us for lifts all the time.

As I said earlier, we have moved rooms around a lot.  We live in a three story house with four bedrooms and I think we have all had a stint in the various bedrooms over the years.  The boys shared and then wanted a room of their own.  Little miss A has swapped rooms recently as she no longer wanted to be on the top floor with her brothers as they are so noisy. The top floor is now the ‘teen zone’ with their bedrooms, a bathroom and the study.  This actually works really well for them although our bedroom is now on the bottom floor in what was originally a dining room.  It is a great room but always freezing and I am considering investing in an electric blanket for the first time as I am always cold.

Me

As I was born in a year ending with a zero, the new decade sees a significant birthday looming for me. Ten years ago I was neurotic about the impending birthday.  I hated talking about it, I didn’t want to do anything special to celebrate and I was dreading it.  Looking back now, ten year on, I realise what an idiot I was.  Age is just a number.  We all get older, there is nothing we can do about that.  Maybe I am ten years older and wiser as I am not bothered any more.  In fact, in 2020 I want to go and do something special to celebrate, not necessarily because of the birthday but more to have the chance to go and make some memories with my family who are growing up so quickly.

So here’s to the new decade, another ten years of goodness knows what.  Whatever it involves, I am looking forward to it.