2000:
We experienced living in New York and Chicago while doc M worked as a traveling surgical tech on contract. We spent the summer in Salt Lake and moved to northern California for med school. I struggled to find a job in CA. I was still selling scrapbooking supplies and began selling Mary Kay. I contemplated leaving my family. We moved 4 times during the year and had a psycho pervert for a roommate.
Learned: bad experiences can be great teaching moments
2001:
We wrapped up the first year of med school. After finals, the doc broke his leg on a bike ride and we lived our summer in Utah. We started year 2 of med school and a 3rd pregnancy. I spent time on Coronado doing contract work related to an old job I had when we lived in Utah. We had a fabulous roommate from India and watched the twin towers in NY burn on tv. Our bank account and overdraft was drained just in time for the holidays from an online hacker. We got a midnight phone call about a murder in the doc's family.
Learned: life is precious and money is just NOT as important as it seems
2002:
We flew to Utah for my sister's wedding. Our 3rd child was born and just a short few weeks later we moved to Vegas. We then hear about a suicide in doc M's family and headed to Utah for the funeral. We met fabulous, life-long friends in Vegas. We ended our Montessori run and put kids back in public school.
Learned: good friends can make all the difference in the world
2003:
We attended my sister's sealing in Utah. We moved out of an apartment, into a rental home and then finally into a home that we purchased (all within 4 months).I spent another week enjoying a contract on Coronado. The doc and I spent 3 months separated while he did med school rotations out of state in an attempt to secure a residency interview. Turned out none of those spots wanted to interview him. I attended Mary Kay seminar in Dallas for the third summer in a row and had a blast. We spent our family Christmas vacation in San Diego.
Learned: having a home of our own means more to us than we thought
2004:
After much tedious waiting, we found out we would move to NJ for residency. We got stranded in a freezing car on the side of the freeway on our way to St. George late at night. We enjoyed a tour of the Hoover Dam while living in Vegas. We attended med school graduation in CA and celebrated with a trip to Hawaii (no kids) in May. We flew to NJ in June to begin internship year. We dealt with a miscarriage in the fall and flew to Utah for a wedding November. We had constant worry over whether or not we would get a permanent residency spot in Jersey. The doc contemplated giving up orthopaedics for ER and I had to suffer through turning 30. We bought our first brand new "right off the lot" car and we baptized our first child.
Learned: there is actually a place we could be sad to leave behind, we hate the Jersey shore, and sometimes experiences just cannot be related to until you go through them yourself
2005:
Time provided acceptance of the miscarriage and we began our training and home study to get licensed for adoption. I contemplated leaving my family again and the orthopaedic residency spot was finally offered to doc M. I had foot surgery to remove some hardware that we thought was causing pain. We flew to CA for a family reunion in Carpenteria. We took a family trip to a timeshare in Massachusetts and I starting qualifying for directorship with Mary Kay. We were completely caught off guard by the start of a 4th pregnancy. I got to see Wicked on Broadway. We attended a Sting concert in Atlantic City and baptized child #2.
Learned: we hate winter and sometimes the Lord just has other plans
2006:
We were mistakenly asked to do foster care even though we had put "adoption only" on our state app. We took a fabulous trip to Panama in February. I had planned all sorts of great things, some of which we had to skip since I had no idea I would be 4 months pregnant when I made the plans. I cried during the entire takeoff of the flight home because the camera was lost, along with over 300 pics I took on the trip. I wanted to go camping for Mother's Day and we nearly got killed by the swarms of mosquitoes. We contemplated moving to a different town to change school districts. Our 4th child was born and we pulled our older kids out of public school to begin homeschooling. The older 2 kids learned new instruments in their homeschool band. We took a family road trip to see New England in the fall. I was sad to stop working Mary Kay, but life was taking a different turn.
Learned: taking leaps of faith is tough sometimes
2007:
We surprised the kids with a cruise to the Caribbean in January as our family Christmas trip. I struggled with homeschooling and finding the best learning style with each kid. We took trips to Vegas in June and September because the flight prices were so great. I took the kids on a road trip to the Outer Banks with some friends in March. We played on the beach, visited the sand dunes, and learned about the Wright Brothers. We took our annual "no kid" trip to Belize in April and came home wanting to move there. I lost one friend to death and another to an out-of-state move, while the doc worked 6 months of rotations hardly being home at all. I'm still not sure I've completely recovered. My sister moved to NY and it was fun for us and the kids to be close to her and see her more often. We spent family time in NY and DC in November to see all the fun holiday displays. We signed a contract for a fellowship in San Diego and jumped for joy!
Learned: not much. Too self absorbed and messed up to see any lessons in life
2008:
We took a trip to Utah in January for holiday celebrations with my family, and then spent a few days in Vegas on the way back to Jersey. I contemplated leaving my family yet again and am still living on an emotional roller coaster. We took a short family cruise to the Caribbean in May and then went straight to my sister's wedding in Utah. Just a few shorts weeks later we returned to Utah for the funeral of my brother-in-law. In July we took a road trip to NY with friends to attend the Hill Cumorah pageant. I put 3 kids back public school for a short stint out of anger and looked for a part-time job while researching the prospect of a live-in nanny. I visited Chicago twice with the doc on trips for conferences and had a heyday with my camera. I discovered facebook and strangely reconnected with people I hadn't seen or talked to in over 17 years. I brought kids back home for school in the fall. I enjoyed a TOFW conference in Philly with some friends.
Learned: life is precious(again) and obsessive thinking can be destructive
2009:
I continued the emotional roller coaster with lots of soul searching. We took our annual no kid trip in January to Isla Mujeres. I finally began feeling progress with homeschooling and enjoyed a homeschooling conference in Virginia led by the author of the book "The Well-Trained Mind". I ended a 14 year friendship (reasons are too private to post). I was taken on a fabulous date to Longwood Gardens by my oldest. I made attempts to read fiction and got more active in the blogging world. I reconnected with a friend from high school whose music and life has had a huge influence on me. We took a trip to SD to scout out neighborhoods, met a fantastic new friend, and fell in love with SD. We made the move to SD over the summer and were excited to finally get out of Jersey. We sent the oldest off to scout camp on Catalina and child #2 off to girl’s camp for the first time. I took a short trip alone to SF to attend the TOFW conference with a great friend from college. I also got to squeeze some time in with my cousins and my aunt. We spent time away in Alabama and Texas interviewing for the future. We had a house full of people for Thanksgiving as we love to do, and were able to spend Christmas in Vegas with family.
Learned: things can get out of hand before you realize it and taking life one day at a time helps me to get a little closer to the balance i so desperately long for
I look forward to what adventures 2010 will bring. It seems our lives have always been filled with adventure and I'm glad because I really hate monotony. We have our "no kid" trip coming up in just a few short weeks, along with a trip to AL to look at homes and schools. Besides the yearly scout camp and girls' camp, this will be the first summer we send a kid away to EFY. We will also have a child getting baptized in June and another starting high school in the fall. We're doing the big move to AL in August, along with a family cruise to Mexico right before the new job starts. There are lots of things in the works. I hope the continued soul searching will bring me continued progress and that 2010 will continue with good news as it has started out with. I will learn how to be a surgeon's wife, how to be the mom of a high school student, and how to homeschool in the state of AL.
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