For many of my friends and I, the start of a new decade (and millennium) was also the start of our adult lives. In the 2000’s I aged from 17-27, got married, had a baby, owned three houses, lost a beloved childhood dog (as did Casey), adopted two of dogs of our own, graduated college, been surrounded by amazing family and friends old and new, traveled, moved nine times in four states and are now settled. I feel really good reflecting on the last decade and the journey I’ve made. I’ve grown up and become truly comfortable in my own skin. I’ve taken on new roles as wife and mother and continued on others as daughter, granddaughter, niece, sister, cousin, and friend. While it hasn’t all been flowers and sunshine, I wouldn’t change a thing; everything led us to the moment we’re in right now. That’s pretty much the condensed highlights. This has taken me way too many hours (seriously) to write and I know I’m still forgetting stuff. I’m trying to list the highlights and hope I’m not leaving anything/anyone out.
New Year’s Eve 1999: I was outside of Los Angeles, ringing in the New Year with my parents, while visiting my sister and her family. As I watched the fireworks over the Hollywood sign, I hoped that the next New Year would be celebrated while going to college in L.A.
2000-2003: In August of 2000, Casey and I started dating, by November we were engaged and were married on May 26, 2001. Casey separated from the Air Force five days after 9/11 happened and the job that we so hoped would be his never ended up happening. He ended up traveling the country on an FBI contract that would keep away sometimes for four weeks. They say that everything happens for a reason, I agree. While it was hard at the time to have him away so much, professionally this experience really did open doors for him and our future. I spent the rest of our time in Colorado getting my A.A. and beginning work on my B.A. (Communication with emphasis in Recording Arts) at UCCS.
2004 was spent in L.A. We loved living so close to the beach and were there at least once a month. We made three road trips to Vegas, flew to Colorado once, and Missouri twice. Casey continued working on the FBI contract but did so at the local field office (only local travel). I interned and then worked part-time at the Geddes Agency, a talent agency for actors and writers (that at that time represented the likes of Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Masi Oka). I tried my hand at acting while there and did a lot of exciting things on everything from a student film to a big name movie. In September, Casey’s family dog, Max, passed away at the age of eight (I think). And in December, Casey was offered a transfer within his company from the L.A. to D.C. that offered a pay raise and more resume fodder, which he accepted. We had a rough start living in L.A. and were robbed before we left, making for a rough end to our stint there. On our cross-country trip we spent Christmas through Casey’s birthday in Colorado and brought in the New Year with Matt and Julie in St. Louis.
2005 – we moved into our first apartment that ever allowed pets in Fairfax, VA. We saw Stoli’s picture online on Thursday and met her breeder that Sunday in Greenville, SC where we adopted her. We went to Maui in February and my mom and I went to Panama City for my Granny’s funeral in October. We bought our first home, a townhouse in Stafford, VA, realized the commute was ridiculously longer than we thought (2-4 hours one way) and that we didn’t want to stay in Virginia long term. We rang in the New Year at home with my parents and uncle John that were visiting.
2006 – We managed to sell our townhouse ourselves and break even on the deal. We moved back to the same apartment complex we lived in when we first got to Virginia, same building, different apartment. I finished up my B.A. online through CSU that year. It’s a good thing we sold when we did because by October 1st we were back in Colorado and Casey was working for HP. I found a job working as a buyer for ITT (government tech company) and we bought the FX (the first new car either of us has ever owned) since we were both commuting. We lived with my parents for three months while we looked for a new house in the Springs. We celebrated the New Year with Joe in Vegas.
2007 – In January we closed on our house in Colorado Springs. Tasha, my first and only childhood dog, passed away in March a week from turning 13. In July, we bought Dude and brought him home a few days shy of eight weeks. We traveled quite a bit this year going to Vegas for Mother’s Day and surprising Casey’s mom, Washington, Missouri for Matt and Julie’s wedding, went to Casey’s sister’s 30th birthday party in Kansas as a day trip (5 hours each way), Kansas City to visit Casey’s parents and then again for his uncle Chuck’s funeral, Phoenix in October to visit Alison, the Dominican Republic (Casey’s first trip out of the country) for Justin and Robin’s wedding, and Austin (a first for both of us – definitely a scouting visit).
2008 – This was a big year for us! In February, I started working again as a buyer for Memorial Health System. Casey was still working at HP during this time and telecommuting full-time. In May, we flew back to Virginia for Jun’s wedding, in June we went to St. John with Matt and Julie, in July my Grandma came out and celebrated her 80th birthday with us and we took family pictures at Garden of the Gods, and at Thanksgiving visited friends in Texas again.
We found out in June we were pregnant and by October we knew we were expecting a girl! Brady Catherine was born on December 22nd, 9 weeks early. The 8-pounder I convinced myself I would have only weighed in at 3 pounds 6 ounces. Brady was a popular girl in the hospital and had lots of visitors. She had so many in fact; we had a hard time following the two visitors at a time rule. Casey’s mom flew out to see Brady and be with parents, as well as my grandparents, uncle, and us so we had quite the support system to get us through. Last year we spent, Christmas, Casey’s birthday, and New Year’s in the hospital with Brady in the NICU.
2009 – The month of January was spent in the NICU getting Brady ready to come home. My maternity leave ended while Brady was still there and I was fortunate to be able to quit my job and be a stay-at-home mom! With a lot of TLC and prayer, Brady came home after 40 days in the NICU (longer than Survivor) at 36 weeks. There are no signs of prematurity – her ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) and heart murmur were both healed (thank you again for all the prayers). Unfortunately with trying to keep Brady isolated and healthy through the remainder of the flu season, she was unable to meet her great-great-aunt Nettie who passed away in March. At her one-year appointment, Brady is now in the 55th percentile for both weight (21 pounds 6.5 ounces) and height (29.25 inches). Brady’s super fast with crawling, cruising whenever she can holding whatever she can, says mama and dada, and her first official word was “pretty”.
Casey’s job with HP really took a turn for the worse in 2009. His pay was cut at least three times; they stopped matching his 401K, increased insurance premiums, made changes to the PTO policy, and his job security went to nonexistent (the contract still hasn’t been renewed and is not looking likely). Casey applied for a job at Rackspace in Austin and we made a road trip down for the interview. We figured we get in a little vacation and visit with family in Kansas City on the way home. Casey was offered the job, we got the house ready and listed for sale, he quit HP, and started Rackspace all within a two-week span. Brady, the dogs, and I stayed behind in Colorado while our house sold (thankfully it was only on the market for two weeks!) and got things ready to move. It ended up taking two house-hunting trips where Brady and I flew (Brady’s first and second plane rides or I guess if you count all the connections and round trips then first eight plane rides!) down before finding something that met our needs and was still available. Casey’s company was very generous with the relocation, which was really great to not have to do it alone with a baby.
This time leaving Colorado was a lot harder than I remember the first time being. There was a lot of anxiety and tears but we managed to make it through. I was sad to be leaving my family behind (even temporarily) but excited to rejoin Casey and start the next chapter in Austin.
My parents and Grandma flew in to celebrate the December birthdays and Christmas with us in our new home. We had a pretty low-key birthday party (princess themed) for Brady and Justin, Robin, Jude, James, and Lana all came to celebrate with the family. We had pizza and red velvet cupcakes (I made Brady a comically large cupcake but I think the strawberry frosting reminded her too much of her amoxicillin because she was not eating it). The party started close to bedtime and went past it so she got a little fussy but overall she did really well and we’re so grateful for everyone’s generosity and gifts for her! It was great being able to spend this time with family and I can’t wait till they’re down here permanently! We said goodbye to 2009 at James and Lana’s house, celebrating with lots of fireworks (which Brady loved)!!!
Goodbye 2000s, hello 2010! Good things are yet to come! Peace, love, health, and happiness to all!