1: marriage
1: child
1: eviction
1: global pandemic
1: death of my brother-in-law
1: separation
1: drivers license acquired
1: decade of a whole life
2: house fires (one serious, one not-very-serious)
2: boards served on
2: people in my immediate family who survived cancer
2: surgeries
2: original songs composed for my sweet baby
2: bouts of COVID
3: grandparents passing
3: friendship implosions
4: main work clients, whom I like all very much
5: moves
5: parent-teacher meetings
6: attempts to change my diet, to ever-less-meaningful results
7: amazing new friendships launched or previous friendships deepened
7: Baby Dance Parties planned, playlisted, and executed
10: sweaters knit (two for my kiddo, eight for me)
10: seasons of Drag Race watched
30+: times listening through the Harry Potter audiobooks as I try to go back to sleep in the night
45+: Dungeons and Dragons games
500+: dollars spent annually thrifting
several: hobbies that were considered/provided for and then abandoned (I will do a punch-needle craft...one day), mental health crises, cherished babies made by other people, game nights with people I love
many: hours spent in the bathtub, nighttime wake-ups, viewings of Back to the Future, fights with my spouse, laughs shared with a barista, hours spent volunteering, issues of the New Yorker that remain partially read, times to put my toes in the water at the beach, house parties, dance breaks, hours on the phone with my mom and sister, visits with my dad
uncounted: hours spent scrolling on my phone, hours spent snuggling with my child in the dark, memes exchanged with friends, Coke Zeros consumed, trips to the grocery store, hours spent worrying, hours spent laughing
unknowable: deep breaths taken in moments of agonizing anxiety, cockroaches killed in our worst home, recitations of Where the Wild Things Are, tidbits of gossip shared (both with and about me), pints of raspberries purchased, ways I have changed for good and for not-so-good, stabs of worry about some bodily ailment, teas purchased in lovely coffee shops and drank in the company of friendly strangers
some: regrets
more: truths uncovered, moments of joy, accomplishments I'm proud of, relationships I cherish, family time I wouldn't trade for the world, things I look back on with fondness because I knew that even though they didn't work out forever, they were good in the moment and the moment is all we really get, hopes for the future, interest to see where the next decade will go.
