10 Years of Mishka

Stole this from Joanne, who stole it from Cat.

10 years ago:

I was twenty-something.
I was living on the East Coast while my husband of three years attended school.
I was missing my family on the West Coast a lot.
I had a lot of debt and not much money.
I met a lot of my husband's family for the first time.
I had just discovered email.
I visited Washington DC, and New York as we drove up the East Coast for Christmas.
I had only one cat named Madison who I had had since high school.
I watched my sister go through the worst year of her life.
I had a bachelor's degree under my belt.
I had only a few close friends, one that was local.

5 years ago:

I was in between twenty-something and thirty-something.
I was living on the West Coast.
I had two cats, one named Madison, one named Chase, who we had just adopted.
I was getting ready to move to Japan.
I had a network admin certificate under my belt.
I had a pretty good job with easy hours and fun people.
I was playing soccer again pretty regularly.
I was living in the house we bought three years before.
I was spending a lot of time with my family.
I was becoming very skilled on computers.
I was not writing, singing, doing art, or playing music much.
I was too busy a lot of the time to really enjoy things.
I finally paid off my school loans and we were completely out of debt (minus the mortgage).

3 years ago:

I was thirty-something.
I was living in Japan.
I had started my graduate program.
I had both kitties, they made the trip with flying colors.
I had my house on the West Coast rented but was not happy with my rental company.
I was writing and reading more.
I was exercising more.
I was skinnier than I had been in a while.
I was tanner than I had been in a while.
I had been to Thailand a few times, and was getting ready to go to Cambodia, and Vietnam, and Australia.
I had a close knit group of friends.
I was having a lot of fun and adventures.
My grandmother on my biological father's side died.
I was playing soccer on the weekends.
I was investing pretty heavily in our futures.
I was experiencing some amazing cultures.

1 year ago:

I was thirty-something.
I was living in Japan but getting ready to move back to the US.
I was planning our trips to China and Tokyo.
I had both cats but was only a few weeks away from finding out terrible news about Madison and having to put her to sleep.
I had refinanced our house on the West Coast but it wasn't rented.
I was playing soccer.
I was still tan and fit.
I was still doing the graduate student thing.
I built my own computer and it worked great.
I was stressing about the move enough to make me vomit and feel terrible.
The close knit group of friends had dissipated but I had made two new fabulous ones.
I was being creative again for the first time in a while.

Today:

I am still thirty-something (and plan to be so until the end of time).
I am living on the East Coast again.
I am still doing graduate school but at a slower pace.
I am living in the second home that we have purchased.
I still have the home on the West Coast and it is rented to some great people and our rental company is much better.
I am missing Japan, my friends there, and my family an awful lot but am getting accustomed to my new surroundings.
I am writing more than I ever had.
I am reading a lot.
I am still exercising but did gain some weight over the winter (nothing drastic, but I noticed it).
I am so much paler than I have been in 5 years.
I am getting ready to celebrate my 13th anniversary this year.
I only have one cat, Chase but she is enough to handle right now.
I am getting excited about having our first visitors to our new location this summer.
I am looking forward to some new adventures in this part of the world.