It’s one thing to look back over a year to pick apart what went right and what you might want to focus on in the coming year. It’s quite another to look back on a decade…and it makes me catch my breath…because so much happened…in the blink of an eye…
A new millennium and old COBOL programs threatening to bring the world to a halt. The clock ticked over. I watched the ball drop in Times Square from the comfort of a warm kitchen…let the games begin.
In 2001 I got stuck in Atlanta on account of Islamic extremists attacking the United States. I watched the Twin Towers fall from a hotel room far away from home…home, where I’d rather be…and left the next day in my rental car…driving 1300 miles in record time…surreal…America the Beautiful lost on my single minded focus to hug my kids…
Little did I know that my own little world would be rocked by my then husband’s admission to having a long term affair. Happy 2002…he walked out…I lost my job…my oldest graduated from high school…a brief reconciliation…and then all hell broke loose…
Happy 2003…I kicked him out for good…and filed to end our 19 year marriage…good ridance…good-bye…you need him more than me…I lost a lot of weight in 2003…I don’t recommend the Divorce Diet…but for a while, I looked pretty darn hot…I turned 40…I bought my own house…and had my baseline mammogram…followed by a suspicious micro-calcification cluster…I had my first biopsy on New Year’s Eve…
Happy 2004…”You Have Breast Cancer“…four words no woman ever wants to hear…I had surgery on February 4…my doc got clean margins but the pathology was not in my favor…invasive breast cancer…good-bye left breast…I had surgery again on March 17…St. Patrick’s Day…my mom’s birthday…she flew out again and spent her 6oth birthday at Brigham and Women’s Hospital with me…one breast gone, one breast uplifted…the plastic surgeon skilled hands even saved the stretch marks on my boobs…gee, thanks doc…I took my girls to Mexico for a week of fun…I climbed the Great Pyramid…and snorkeled at Xel Hal…I started chemotherapy and two weeks later lost my hair…I looked good bald…8 rounds of poison…did a number on me…28 rounds of radiation therapy…burned the crap out of my armpit…I welcomed in 2005 with new hair on my head…little tiny curls…but that meant I had to start shaving my legs again…crap!
Happy 2005…I had remodeling surgery and got something that looks almost like a real boob…an implant…not too shabby…did I tell you I love my plastic surgeon? Oh yes…I lost my job again…but negotiated a kick ass severance package…and really wondered, “do I want to go back to Corporate?” But with a daughter in college and one in high school, mama had to stay in gear…I dated…and then I stopped dating…tried it again…dating just sucked.
Happy 2006…single and loving it…free to be me…found my groove…discovered that the only way to attract the love I wanted in my life I had to become that love…I wrote it down…and six weeks later my one true love found me…I am him and he is me…he proposed in June…we said “I Do” in September…I became a stepmom…my oldest graduated from college…my youngest graduated from high school…the only constant is change…
Happy 2007…happy in my bubble…went to Italy with my honey…buried a dear friend (who was in Italy with us) six weeks later…stretched and grew in my role as a stepmom…new challenges…new solutions…my youngest step daughter got engaged…I started Thai Kickboxing…
Happy 2008…I began my yoga teacher training program…I got sunburned in Florida…I started THIS blog…my oldest moved to Spain…my youngest moved to Vail…my stepdaughter announced she was pregnant…I turned 45…
Happy 2009…I graduated and became a certified yoga teacher…go me! I got sunburned again…and gained weight…and reached a milestone of all milestones…I am FIVE years cancer free…in the blink of an eye…Richard and I became grandparents…we witnessed the first of our children to get married…we began the countdown for his deployment…The almost wedding…when my oldest came home with her fiance in tow…except customs sent back her fine Irish lad because he didn’t have the right visa…I started writing…for real…won a poetry slam contest…and a $10 coffee gift certificate…expanded the reach of THIS blog and created one just for stepmoms like me…I am proud and honored to be part of a blogging community that enriches the lives of others…I started my next level of yoga teacher training…and I became a recommended black belt in Thai Kickboxing…I lost 14 pounds after I saw my picture from a trip Richard and I took to the Turks and Caicos…
And so that brings me to now…with only hours to go before we begin a new year, a new decade…what am I looking forward to? A trip to Ireland to meet my daughters’s fiance in 14 days…getting sunburned in March while I’m thawing out in Florida…perhaps a wedding in April…my stepson’s high school graduation…hiking Bryce Canyon in May…watching my oldest stepdaughter say “I Do” in July…and I’ll stop there…because my honey deploys shortly after the wedding…and I’ll miss him like crazy.
The next ten years…WOW…I’m pretty sure I’ll have a gaggle of grand kids…and maybe a 3rd or 4th degree black belt…and a few NYT best sellers…and a really cool yoga studio…and lots of vacations…and forever happiness with the love of my life…and I’ll only be 56 when I ring in 2020…
Happy New Decade!
Special thanks to We’re At Dad’s That Week for inspiring my own look back…
I think you kicked arse, took names, and now you wear the black belt of glory. I love reading your history. I will be your biggest fan when your book(s) hit the NYT seller list. I can’t wait to see what else you accomplish and proclaim.
Thank you for being such a inspiriter of LIFE. I am so glad to call you friend. You are precious to me. Happy New Year!
Peggy Darling,
You have kicked some serious 2009 Butt
I am so so proud and happy to read all your accomplishments. I am all tingly to have so many of my own now….you have motivated me and inspired me…Now and in the past sometime since i have known You. Thank you for being my precious connection in 2009. I hope this connections grows and grows and grows in the coming years.
Happy New year filled with love and immense abundance.
Love
Z
Peggy,
I feel so much abundance in these words! Life is great, even…and I see that here very deeply – when I see where you are today, and iin a life that is filled with so much! While the decade has had moments of “not so good”, I see a real highlight here being “the great” that has been. And speaking of great…it is great knowing you! Here’s to an awesome next ten!!
Lance – you are definitely one of the treasures I found this year in blogland. I am happy for that! Blessings to you and your family!
What a powerful story of transformations in your life during the past decade. Divorce, cancer, survival, remarriage, new career, wow!
Many blessings for a fabulous new decade, strong SITSta!
Wow! You made it! Good for you. My post today is about finding a cure for cancer by the end of the next decade. You and your inspirational journey are one of the reasons for that. May this next decade be remarkable for you!
Stopping by from SITS. Happy New Year!
Alex aka Ma What’s For Dinner
http://www.MaWhats4Dinner.com
You rocked that decade Peggy! How accomplished it must feel. There are always peaks and valleys…it is what you do when you are in them that counts.
Now that I look back on it, I don’t think I did a 10th of what you have done in your decade.
Keep on keeping on!
Wishing you an abundance of inspiration right to your door. Unlock the possiblities.
Enjoy the day!
Erin
Peggy,
Though we are new “blog friends” I am reveling in this new relationship. I am glad I found you, or did you find me? I loved loved! reading your 10 year story. I wonder if I should write my own…well, I did most of that in my book Your Truest Self, but it could be time to add some more. (wink)
Anyway, this is what touches my heart the most. You have a huge “litany of sorrows” – we pretty much all do. But what you have done with it is amazing and brilliant. I admire your fortitude, ongoing enthusiasm and how you receive and offer it up with grace. And how you keep your heart open to all kinds of love. Gasho (that’s a deep Taoist bow…) And, of course you know that when you do all of this you get Big Time Love. I am so very happy for you.
Have a wonderful trip, and an even more stellar New Year. Blessings all around,
Jan
awakenedliving.com
Hi Peggy,
Happy New Year and Decade to you! You definitely have had an amazing and interesting decade. Good for you for coming out of it shining bright and being strong in every way!
May the next decade bring more joy and blessings!
And have a wonderful trip to Ireland and Florida!
You guys are the best and I can’t wait to see where 2010 brings us all!
Peace, Love, and All That Jazz!
xxoo
Wow, what a decade! What an inspiration you are! I’ve only just found your blog and our lives seem to mirror one another (minus the cancer, thank God!). I’m thrilled at how you took on each challenge and grew, never giving up.
It’s been a shocking 2009 for me. Here in Australia 2010 has already dawned and I woke up feeling cleansed and healed thanks so some ritual burning last night. And then I found your post in my inbox – maybe for me this, too, will be a new beginning. I will try to be that love that I’m looking for.
Happy New Year!
Kate – before I go enjoy my New Year’s Eve (I feel so far behind you! It’s tomorrow where you live!!) I just had to respond…
Honey – my one true love, no joke, is the man who once was the boy I first fell in love with…I was 16, he was 17…high school sweethearts who went our separate ways only for him to find me 25 years later.
Your true love is out there, but first you must become your one true love.
Trust me…
xxoo
Hi, Peggy!
I love how you kept saying, “got sunburned…” That made me laugh for some reason (like it’s the one constant in this very unpredictable life all of us lead). You’re right — a decade is HUGE, and when I realized that’s what was upon us, it gave me pause. Like you, so much has happened in ten years. I’m three different people than I was when 2000 was rung in. I’ve morphed myself from an unhealthy, drama-addicted, insecure female into a strong, healthy, vital, loving/giving/sharing, fun-seeking, feel-good wanting woman. I love myself now, whereas ten years ago, I loathed myself deep down.
Best of all, I know now that I don’t know a damn thing, and it’s all a learning process. Who I think I am is only a shadow of who I actually am, and whoever is to come will be a big, welcomed surprise to me!
What a privilege to know you, Peggy, and share in your memories here. Thank you! You really do kick ass!
As for Richard deploying this year, I’ll be supporting you however I can. I was thinking yesterday on the drive home from Andy’s house (who is leaving for Iraq for another five months after being home for two weeks), that these separations are tough… But they become slightly more manageable with a good support group, as SuZen pointed out on her blog last month.
Love & joy to you!
Happy New Year!
Megan – it is truly an honor knowing you and watching you blossom exactly where you’re planted. The separations are tough, but with the support posse, it’s all doable. Mine is rock solid…and knowing me, my type A over achiever personality will take over and I’ll keep myself entertained with lots to do so the missing him part of it won’t be so bad! xo
Like Megan, the “got sunburned” piece I got a chuckle out of even though I know sunburns are not fun!
You really had quite a decade, and while I’m fairly new to your blog, i look forward to getting to know you better in 2010. It hadn’t occurred to me to look back over the decade, but I will now after reading this. I got married, quit my job, dug into who I am and what I’m doing in this world that’s good. And, like you I also became a certified yoga instructor. Yes, quite a decade for all of us in so many different ways.
Wishing you all the best in 2010…
Hi Stacey – I’m pretty that as I wrote the post, the temps outside were minus frigid…so I can’t help but think of the times as I thaw at the beach…and burn myself in the process. Seriously, I am New England white…scary….
YES, YES, YES is all I can say and now you are warmed up, reading about your next decade will totally floor me.
Go Peggy go and I am proud to know a writer of best sellers, so now you know to get on with it.