Thursday, December 13, 2012

Blogging Drought

I'm not sure how this happened, but I have neglected to post a blog in nearly ten weeks.  September 30 was the last time I even posted, and that was a pretty weak as far as blog posting goes...  How time passed so quickly I'll never know, but I do know that sometime in mid-November I realized I didn't say 'boo' during October!  I figured I would get around to an update sometime in shortly thereafter, but as you can see, that didn't happen.  So, here it is the middle of December and I have plenty of time between postings.

I turned thirty last week.  Not that I really had much excitement about another birthday, in fact I can't think of the last time I was actually excited about a birthday.  It's just a nice time to gather with family and have a special meal and cake!  Nope, twenty one wasn't anything special - if you don't care for alcohol then it's just another day.  So I suppose eighteen was the last time I looked forward to a birthday and perhaps it will be my last....although, I suppose if I make it to an old age I might find some excitement in that.  Perhaps 80 will be nice, 90 wouldn't be bad at all, and 100 is well worth a party.

If I look back ten years ago when I turned twenty I can't say that I would have foreseen ALL of the things that happened in the last decade of life, but a few of them fell into place, even though now how I expected.  First, I did finish college in four years and I did get married (although I have to admit not to the gal I thought I would - and she would admit the same).  Perhaps that was one of the best unforeseen events in my twenties - a pure situation of events that brought us together.  The odds of us meeting are probably incredibly bad, yet we seem to have known each other our entire lives...

As far as moving to Montana for a few years, I really didn't foresee that - but that too was one of the best experiences in my twenties.  But wait, you say "Nolan, you complained the entire time you were there about how bad it was..."  Yeah, you're right, I did.  However, it wasn't so much the place or people as it was the situation and distance.  Let me put it this way.  Laura and I loved the hiking, geocaching, setting out on our own, traveling all over the Pacific Northwest, and generally just being together and making our lives work.  What we didn't enjoy was the distance from family, close friends, dreary and perceptually long winters, and virtually no income.  In looking back on that situation though, it was a great time for us.  We could come and go as we pleased (that is as long as Laura didn't need to be in the lab at school) and we really had a lot of free time on our hands.  We could hike almost every day if we wanted and we could do just about anything else we wanted - we had no kids!

Which brings me to my next event.  KIDS.  Laura and I were ready for kids and thought we had a plan in place for our first baby.  What we didn't expect was how easy it was for us to...uh, shall we say 'create' the first one, and the second, and SURPRISE the third.  Not that I want to complain about our kids, because we certainly have some well behaved and intelligent children, but sometimes you just can't plan for how they can work your nerves.  I won't say much about the kids though, I should just say that when you think you have life figured out (especially in your twenties) make sure you plan on anything with kids!

Finally, I guess I should mention work.  Am I where I thought I would be with work?  No, not exactly but that's kind of an unfair statement.  I really didn't know where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do with my job.  I had wanted to work somewhere in the resources and conservation field but once things didn't pan-out after college I had actually written that plan off.  Again, another situation of events led me into submitting a resume and I found myself right where I wanted to be but didn't expect to arrive...

All in all, I wouldn't change anything in the past ten years.  If life went along as I planned I certainly wouldn't be where I am today.  Maybe that would be a good thing, maybe I would be filthy rich and doing what I please day in and day out.  Then again, most of everything that I've been through the past ten years has been priceless and you can't buy great memories.

Until again
-=Nolan=-