A New Decade

On Twitter today there is a hashtag (#) topic called #10YearsAgo.  Twitter users are sharing what they were doing when we passed from 1999 to the year 2000.  In the process of trying to remember what exactly I was doing (planning a New Year’s Eve party for my daughter and her middle-school friends) I happened to start thinking about exactly what has transpired in my life in the past ten years.  For some, that ten years may seem to have passed with little change except for a little aging. Not so for me.  The year 2000 was literally a different lifetime for me.  In retrospect, below is just a small portion of what has transpired in my life the past 10 years.

• Saw the year 2000 in as ‘Suzy Homemaker’ living in Mechanicsville, VA with a husband and two children.
• Was uprooted by said husband back to home state of Maine in October of 2000.  Left the white picket fence behind.
• Began nightmare of anorexia with my daughter, complete with feelings of helplessness as she wasted away.
• Separated from said husband in September 2001 upon shocking revelation.
• Struggled as a suddenly single mother, filed for divorce and continued trying to help my daughter overcome her eating disorder through 2002.
• Became a divorcee in June of 2002 and continued to struggle to pay the bills and be a good parent while dealing with life changes.
• A dear friend pays for me to train as a loan processor and I try to make ends meet by doing contract processing in 2002 and 2003.  It helps, but doesn’t provide enough income so I start job hunting. I also take some continuing education classes in Accounting and Office Procedures through adult ed.
• Rejoined the working world after being a stay at home mother for 13 years in August 2003.  Found out I had mad administrative and computer skills due to being a computer geek and having owned my own scrapbooking business while I was a SAHM.
• Still intimidated by my ex-husband and his proximity, fled to Morganton, NC in June 2004. Unexpectedly my son made the decision to stay in Maine with his father.
• During a Christmas visit to my son in 2004, become aware of his severe depression due to living with his father.  Make the heartbreaking decision to return to Maine.
• Friends help me pack up and move back to Maine in January 2005 in order to be closer to my son.
• Get a temp position at an oil company in February 2005 while temporarily living with my parents.
• My loan processing experience lands me a job as a title processor in March 2005. I begin the most stressful job I’d ever experienced in my life, but am determined to make it work.
• May 2005 finds me moving into my own apartment. My daughter and her boyfriend decide to abandon college in Virginia and join me.
• I begin a Certificate Course for Medical Coding and Billing in June 2006 at a local technical school while maintaining my full time job.  Went directly from my job to classes two nights a week and juggled homework, homelife and a still stressful job. Came to the realization that as much as I hated it, I was really, really good at title processing and working with the professionals involved.
• My son makes the decision to move in with me in June 2006, so now both he and his sister are living with me as well as his sisters boyfriend. Full House (or should I say, apartment)
• The real estate market in Maine crumbles in 2007, the title company I’m working for closes its doors in August 2007 and I am suddenly unemployed, still attending school and still with a full house.   The job market sucks and the state of Maine offers to help me start my own business if I have what they consider a viable idea.  In desperation I research what I might be able to do with the skills and experience I have and voila! the term ‘virtual assistant’ shows up in my search.
• September of 2007 sees the launch of my virtual assistance business.  I also finish my classes and externship to earn my Health Claims Certificate in December 2007.
• My son is accepted to East Carolina University in June 2008, I take him to college in August of 2008.
• One of my best friends offers me a temporary home in Richmond, VA  to put me closer to my son and allow me to look for a new home in North Carolina where I feel I can better afford to live and escape the horrible, harsh Maine winters.
• November 2008 finds me in Richmond, VA enjoying reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. My business continues to grow.
• I move into my new condo in North Carolina in April 2009.
• Changes to my business give me ups and downs during the rest of 2009, but for the most part it’s good. My son’s financial aid fails to materialize, so he ends up staying with me. We also add a family member, our kitten Fiona.

Wow, looking at that timeline, I’ve come a long way baby!  From controlled housewife to independent business owner. Heck, I’ve moved five times in the past 10 years!  But it’s all worked out for the best. Life just keeps getting better.  Are there bad things about where I am right now. Sure. Like the fact that my daughter is still living in Maine. I miss her every day. But she’s an adult and that’s what happens when your kids grow up.  For the most part, everything is better now than it was back then.

And I’m looking forward to exciting things in 2010 and beyond!  How about you?