10 Years of Mishka (5 Years Later)

I did this same post 5 years ago but figured since it was an anniversary of sorts that I might see how things have updated...you can click on the old version in my link below if you want to check it out.

10 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).

5 years ago:

I was thirty-something.
I was living in NC.
I was still working on my graduate program.
I had lost Madison in 2004 to old age but still had Chase and she was loving the sun room.
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 missing my friends from Japan and hadn't really made any new ones.
I was playing soccer with two local leagues.
I was investing pretty heavily in our futures.


3 years ago:

I was thirty-something.
I was living in NC but jumping through hoops to come back to Japan.
I had just had a great Christmas trip to Panama, Belize, Costa Rica and Florida.
I had started shaving Chase regularly to keep both of us sane.
I had started looking at selling both the house in NC and the one in WA.
I was playing soccer.
I had just graduated with my master's degree.
I was officially volunteering for Google and getting lots of experience.
I was blogging a lot.
I was being creative again for the first time in a while.

1 Year Ago:

I was still thirty-something, but creeping up real close to forty.
I was living in Japan in a really cool Japanese house three blocks from the beach.
I still had Chase but we had fixed up the backyard so she could be outside part of the day.
I no longer had either home in NC or WA but owned one in OR that was being rented.
I had added two more countries to my list of travel places.
I was spending the majority of my time working for free for several non-profit organizations.
I was still volunteering for Google.
I was only being creative on selective days because my schedule was super tight.
I was not spending enough time enjoying the outdoors, singing or writing.
I was not playing soccer at all (due to lack of participants).

Today:

I am now forty and it is not as bad as I thought.
I am still living in Japan but getting ready to move to Hawaii in the fall.
I just got home from a great trip to Kyoto.
I have been able to see 8 of the Japanese islands so far and hope to get a few more in before we leave.
I am getting all my sh!t together so I can get a job when we move.
I still have Chase but she is getting older too.
I still have the home in OR and thankfully it is still rented.
I have not had any visitors from the US this time around and am looking forward to living a bit closer in the near future.
I am not writing as much as I want to, but am trying to work on that.
I am reading a lot.
I am on an exercise plan to get back to a fitter me as soon as possible.
I am getting ready to celebrate my 18th anniversary this year.
I am still not playing soccer (still no participants).
I am still investing pretty heavily in our futures.
I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to a bunch of my closest friends this summer.
I am looking forward to moving to a new place and having new adventures.
I am looking forward to being able to travel some more in this part of the world.

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5 Years Ago on In My Words...10 Years of Mishka