Fifteen Years

I read a post today and I wanted to share.

Fifteen Years
(click on the link to take you to the post)

Shay Shull inspires me.  I don't remember exactly when I started reading her blog -- I don't think she was the first I started consistently reading, but I've probably read her blog consistently the longest (if that makes sense?).  The bloggers that inspire me/I rely on their content the most are in my sidebar, and hers has always been there.  I am ten years older than her in age and season in life but still, she inspires.  She reminds me A LOT of my sister, so maybe that is some of it, but also, she is "my kind of person".  

The first time I ever saw this quote it was like someone had finally explained to me who I am.  

I am not saying that she is "too much". . .but I can imagine that others look at her and think, "how does she do it all?".  *I* look at her and think the same thing -- ha!

She pushes and inspires me, without even knowing who I am!!!

We are very different people, but that doesn't mean she can't inspire me.  Inspire me to be a better person, better friend, better reader, better planner, or, like in the post referenced here, a DREAMER.

I think I started this blog 12 years ago.  It was a whim, which it was for a lot of early bloggers, and with not much direction.  It's still that way for me :). I rely on link-ups and time/desire to get my posts up.  Before blogging, I would put out group e-mails to let our far-away family know what we were all up to (remember days before smart phones and social media???).  The blog just seemed simpler and attaching pictures much easier.  

Now I'm so glad to have those memories :)  I also, on occasion, have written about how I did something or about a place we visited and I can reference the blog post instead of re-explaining or going through the steps right.that.minute.  It's convenient.  But mostly, still, it's for ME.

So. . .in the spirit of "15 Years" I thought I'd figure out who I was at 35 and who I am now at 50 :)

Unlike Shay, I was not in a sad state fifteen years ago but like her, I was lonely.  We were living in a rural area and it was just very hard to make friends.  Hard to find people "like me".  Even after having been in middle Tennessee for a year I was still floundering -- we had found a church by then and three of my kids were in school but still. . .what to do with my days?  I was certainly busy with four kiddos at home (ages 8, 6, 5, and 3-almost-4) in August 2007.  That may have been the year I started working at the YMCA in childcare to "have something to do".  Tom was coaching Y soccer with the kids old enough to participate and we were still making frequent trips "home", to Ohio.

Looking through my archives, it looks like I began this blog in November 2009.

I just re-read that post for the very first time in a decade -- wow.  Who I was and, interestingly, I've stayed true to the mission I set on then.  I remember I still had a digital camera and uploading pictures to the desktop computer was a PAIN. . .I know I took pictures of those fall magazines referenced in that post and yet either I didn't know how to upload them or couldn't figure it out.  Funny.  Now it's an instant click, airdrop, and drag :)

Here is the first back-to-school picture I could find on the blog from July/August 2010:

And now those kids. . .

1) a bachelors in civil engineering

2) an AS in engineering applications pursuing a bachelors in biomedical engineering

3) an AS in accounting and pursing a bachelors in accounting with a goal of becoming a CPA

4) a licensed real estate agent pursing a bachelors in finance 

This coming up season will be the first where they are ALL gone.  Three are living downtown, two in the same complex, and one 100 miles away.  

We no longer live in that rural area in middle Tennessee. . .in fact, the kids' journey, from the time that picture was taken until graduation led them from RES to homeschool during 2011, to AES/AMS then CHS, to KMS/HVA, then three to CCS for a year, and then, remarkably, all graduated from the same High School here in East Tennessee.  An unpredicted journey, a lot that is chronicled here in this blog, but a journey through the seasons that we were blessed to travel through TOGETHER.

Fifteen years ago I did not have a teaching license.  I had let my Ohio license expire since we no longer lived there and I was committed to my full-time Mom status.  I did substitute teach during this time and was working on my Master's Degree in Educational Leadership from Tennessee Technological University so I could one day go back into the classroom.  I received that degree and then passed all my state licensing requirements in 2011 and was unexpectedly offered a full-time teaching job in January 2012.   Back to work I went. . .until we moved to East Tennessee.  I returned to the classroom briefly when we moved, then decided that it was not the best profession for me if I also wanted to invest 100% into my family.  I know other people can do it, and do it well, but that was not me.  I recently came across this post, chronicling that year.  It was a GOOD year, and if the contract would have been extended I would have returned, but the contract ran out and I moved on.

Here we are today, with a very different direction in life, anticipating a new start at a former company on August 15th.  I will be a Client Experience Specialist -- since the title was made up by my new boss, we'll define it together :). I don't believe you need any degrees to perform this role, but that's not always what life is about, right?  The education, which I still fully, completely believe in, is important, but hard work, a desire to continue learning, and always doing your best trumps any degrees you might earn. . .they just help you do what you do at an expert level.  There is no degree in "blogging" yet many of those ladies on my sidebar are killing it and supporting their families through their gig :)

Oh, and my TN license expires at the end of this month.  That's OK.  Hard to let hard work go, but as a good friend and former principal reminded me this summer, sometimes God removes the "good" from your life so He can show you "great".  Since good is good, sometimes we wouldn't move on, right?

Where will the next 15 years lead?  Who knows?  I'm excited to find out though!!  Maybe I'll be a "better blogger", if only for myself and these memories.  I just realized, in searching for some pics and posts, that this is post #409.  Wow.  I guess I did have a lot to say.  And people can listen/read or not -- ha!!!  I get to talk (if you know me then. . .) and you can choose to tune in or out ;)

I've gotta end with a picture -- it doesn't seem right not to.  This was my first tennis trip, one that was referenced in the graduation link:

May 2011, Sandestin, FL

July 2022, Rome, GA

Tennis has become so much bigger for me in the last 15 years -- I played in HS and then didn't play for years and years. . .picked it up again with friends in Ohio once the kids were old enough to go with me, then found some players in Cookeville, and most recently, found a super group of ladies here in Knoxville to really grow with!!  I'm so glad this has been a part of my life :)

Drop something in the comments about who you were or where you were fifteen years ago vs now -- I'd love to hear!!!

Love,

Jenni