Meme Time

Ms. Dawn has set up another Meme...  So, here it is~  Feel free to play along!

1) What I was doing ten years ago:
Oh gosh..  Ten years ago, this month was a very uneasy year.  I was still married to the ex-husband with his Jeckyl and Hyde personality.  I never knew who was coming through that door each night after work.  I think at this point I already had a bag of luggage in my closet.  I was contemplating whether or not to see a counselor.  I eventually did, but of course the ex refused to go, so I went alone.  I was told everything that I needed to do--I already knew what I needed to do; but of course I had to hear it from someone else.  It was the first time in my life I confided in someone about the years of abuse I went through.  It was liberating, but at the same time, a very frightening time.  My son Andrew was 3-as cute as ever (people still thought he was a girl), and poor Lizzy was a very impressionable 9 year old who unfortunately witnessed the drama. 

2.) Five years ago:

2002:  A very bittersweet year.  I met Rich (husband) the year before, and I was very happy.   I decided late in 2001, that working 3 jobs was not the solution to my economic woes, so I put on a brave face, and moved in with my parents.  It was a tight squeeze with me and the two kids, but I would eventually learn that being with my parents at that time would prove to be the right place to be.  My father was diagnosed with liver cancer a 5 months after the move.  They needed me there.  It was the year my dad died.  I don't know what I would have done without Rich at my side during this time.  It felt like a part of me died that year.  (I still feel a part of me gone.) I was thankful that my dad met my future husband. 

3) One year ago:  October of 2006, things were good!  We were getting ready for Halloween, and Lizzy was starting her first year in college.  I think I was already planning Nick's 3rd birthday, and my in laws were coming over.  I was thinking about a trip to the Azores back then.  And I was already toying with the idea of passports.  Little did I know I should have done it all at that time. 

4.) Yesterday: Busy as usual.  Wake up children, take them to school, my mom's...go to work.  Easy day at work.  Sent in my Avon order.  Went to pick up Nick from my mom's and dropped him off at daycare.  Went to pick him up later, only to find him weeping away at daycare.  His "best friend" Beau bit him.  Lovely.  Wiped away the tears, put him in the car, and proceeded to pick up Andrew from his friend's house.  Got him, and because of desperate pleas of hunger pains gave in and went through the drive thru so Andrew could have a Big Mac.  Apparently the kid did not eat lunch due to a long long line.  Drove home, to find Lizzy waiting.  Drove her to work, came back, and fed the men folk.  Rested.  Wheew..  Cleaned..  Wheww..  Put Nicholas on the toilet, and gave him a bath.  Checked on husband who was working away in the garage programming parts.  Played on the computer, and put my pajamas on.  Put Nicholas to bed.  Went out and picked up Lizzy from work (yes in pajamas).  Got home and went to bed.  Snuggle with my honey---while listening to the older kids make too much noise.  After a few pleas to send the kids to bed, I slept like a log... :)