Once Upon a Time.......

Well, it's here. The last day of my twenty something decade. A friend told me the other day that she never had a problem with the 0's....like 30 or 40 or 50, she said it was like a brand new start...I have been talking about turning 30 for awhile now, and NOW that it is upon me, it's kinda weird. I just actually sat here and thought about the last 10 years, and what amazing things have happened, all the challenges, the good times and bad times. 10 years ago right now, I was a sophomore in college, and that's about all I need to SHARE, b/c those were some WILD DAYS!!! I met Dan when I was 21, but we were just good looking co-workers at The Olive Garden at that time!! We started dating when we were 22 (which is funny, because now I look at the younger kids I know who are about that age or OLDER and I think...they are WAY too young to be serious!) ha... I was just a pup myself, but I sure got lucky with my boy.

I mean when I look back at it, we started dating in August, I BOUGHT A DRESS IN OCTOBER,, (what the?) and didn't get engaged until December. Wow, mom that was pretty awesome of you to go along with all that!!! Then we got married that NEXT April...what a whirlwind. Dan and I moved to St. Louis that summer the end of July, I started a job at Yellow Book USA (which has forever scared me), and Dan started law school at SLU.

Hmmm, then two weeks into my training in the arm pit of the USA (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) sorry, it is. I love Des Moines, but Cedar Rapids just STANKS. I noticed that I felt HORRIBLE. Kidney infection? Bladder infection? What was the deal. SO I called my dr. back home and got some meds. They just didn't seem to help. When I finally got back to STL, Dan and I made an executive decision to drive straight into the ghetto and find the scariest hospital known to man, where I sat shivering on a cold hard table, preparing for certain death when our very unfriendly Indian dr. informs us "Congratulations, you are going to be parents" and turns around and walks out.

We went home that night (3 a.m.) and just sat in bed. Wow. Life can really be interesting. I have a bad job, you are in school and we are going to have a baby. Fast forward 8.5 months, and 76 pounds later..Yup that's right; big mama gained 76 pounds, I DO NOT advise that, and Tatum Brynn was born. She was our angel baby!!

Ok, so then we moved to Columbia, MO when Tatum was 2 months old, Dan transferred to MU Law School, and I got a GREAT job with the American Heart Association. We had our adventures there for two years, and moved back to Springfield after he graduated so he could take the job with the firm he is at now. Not too long after that Mr. Dalton Patrick was born!!

So much more has happened, new friends, jobs, Buttons Rice, etc. The kids are 5 and 3 now, and getting bigger by the minute.

I know this was a long post, but I guess I needed to just re-cap some of the big things that have happened for me in the past several years. So here is to the 20's........you have been wonderful and stressful and crazy. Just another chapter in what I hope is a very long books of stories.