Where were you?
Last week, much like everyone else, LJ sent me an email announcing their 10 year anniversary. I'll be honest. I didn't open it. It ended up in my Deleted folder along with the mail telling me what the 10 Worst Diet Foods were and the 10 Best Ways to Snag a Man. (As if I could handle more than one.) But instead of being taken out with the trash, the subject line stuck with me. And it got me thinking. In 1999, I didn't know what blogging was. I still called MoviePhone for showtimes on a cell phone that doubled as a 2 lb hand weight, and was pregnant with the kid I just bought size 9 Mens baseball cleats for. I'd run a marathon, almost been fired from a job and was slowly easing into the thought of giving up my Honda Civic for a minivan while hoping my TV would work after Y2K.
Hindsight. It's a beautiful thing, it's a cruel thing. It's a gift. Not one designed to show you how badly you screwed up but more how much you've grown. Life is not a smooth road. Nothing involving the human element ever is. And no one ever guarantees you're going to come out on the other side 15 lbs lighter with painted toenails and perfect hair. Not that that wouldn't be appreciated.
So, here I sit in 2009. I drove the minivan into the ground. I've got regularly scheduled appointments to wash that grey right out of my hair. I own an arsenal of creams and lotions and serums that tell me in 6 - 8 weeks I won't notice the "laugh lines" so much. I'm not completely convinced I'm young enough to run 2 marathons in the space of six months and some days I'd give anything to not have any more responsibilities outside making me, myself and I happy. There are scars that will never heal, embarrassments that will never fade, memories that are criss-crossed so deeply in my mind and on my heart that I will carry them always, but to let these things overwhelm would be unfair to all the wonderful things that kept life moving forward.
Ten years ago, I'd never heard of Harry Potter, hadn't hugged my son or daughter yet and never, ever would have thought I'd get anything out of philosophizing publicly on something called a blog. Life is funny that way.
So, where were you ten years ago?