It's the final day of 2009, and there has been much discussion in the media about how it's finally the end of the Worst Decade Ever.

And I admit that on a world or a national level, things have pretty much sucked. Wars, terrorism, world-wide economic downturn.

But in my own personal life--we're just talking about little old me here--I'd have to say the '00s have been my Best Decade Ever.

I'll be fair and say that they were only my third decade. I mean, ages 0-10 were probably pretty good, but I only remember half of them; ages 10-20, thumbs way down. I had a reasonably good adolescence, I think, and I certainly can't complain of privation or real struggle. But at the same time, who would ever consider those years of teenage awkwardness and change the Best Ever? Not me, that's for sure.

Which brings us to the years 2000-2009, which happen to coincide with ages 20-29 for me. So far, totally the best decade ever.

As the new millenium dawned, I had recently started dating a boy whom I was pretty sure was going to become my husband, so that was a good thing. I spent the first month of the decade--January 00--living in England with my friend Meg and some other Linfield students, ostensibly "studying British literature."


I do recall writing a few essays and attending "classes" in the bar of the hotel we were staying at, but mostly it was just traveling around England having the time of our lives.

That summer I lived in a little apartment with my friends Connie and Erin and Elisha and worked three jobs (hostess at Mongolian Grill, checker at Mervyn's department store, writing internship with the state of Oregon's Agriculture Department). Yes, I worked all the time and was still poor, but it was a lot of fun too. Got engaged right before classes started for the year; I was right about my hunch on that boy I'd just started dating.

Junior year of college--editor of the student newspaper. Once again, worked all the time but had a lot of fun. Looking down at the sparkly diamond on my finger never failed to make me happy.

Summer of 01--wedding planning. Intern at Corvallis Gazette-Times.


Married a completely stellar man on Aug. 18, 2001. Honeymoon in London! Rock on.

Returned home just in time to start my final semester of college. And to wake up one morning to learn that terrorists had just flown planes into the World Trade Center. A heartbreaking event, but one that had little personal impact on me.

Got my first real reporting job: the Polk County Itemizer-Observer. I wrote birth announcements, obituaries, and everything inbetween. School board, city council, cops, human interest--you name it, I wrote it.

Finished college. Woohoo! Started work at a daily paper closer to where I lived: the Albany Democrat-Herald.

I was the cops reporter for most of my time there. That means I started out each day reading the county 911 logs from the previous 24 hours. Every single day I wrote about drug deals, car crashes, court cases, fires and drownings. It was alternately funny and horrific, tragic and fascinating. I covered the deployment of a local National Guard troop. I watched families wipe away tears as they were separated, and again when they were united.

And though I cared about the stories I wrote, and sympathized with the joy and pain of the families I wrote about, my own personal life--the way I lived out my day to day--was not changed, despite the war and turmoil I wrote about. Through those years, I experienced nothing more tragic than a parking-lot fender-bender. (Oops. That Dumpster just came out of nowhere, sweetie).


June 9, 2004: I start this blog. Pretty much the rest of my decade is chronicled here, but I'll save you from reading through five and a half years' of archives and just continue with this highlights reel of a post.



Aug, 2004: My daughter Beth is born and I begin the most life-changing undertaking I've ever experienced: figuring out how to be a good mother.

2004-05: I went to working only part-time, and most of those hours from home. It is the sweetest deal ever, and yet I still found it frustrating to "juggle" taking care of my one easy little baby with work. I blogged only sporadically, mostly because I couldn't really figure out what to write about. I had this idea that being a "mommyblog" was somehow cheesy and meant that I couldn't find any REAL, important subject matter.

2006: I bite the bullet and realize: Hey, I like writing about being a mom. Blog posts in 2005 = 29. Blog posts in 2006 = 181. So much for not having anything to write about.

Spring 2006: I quit the D-H altogether so Eric can take an internship in Wilsonville. (The amount of time I have on my hands after quitting could contribute to my jump in blog posting as well). We move to Wilsonville with me 6 months pregnant.


June, 2006: Lucy is born! My sweet, sweet, middle child. I begin attempting to mother two children at once. Life gets ever more interesting.

2006-07: We move to Corvallis so Eric can finish up his engineering degree. I start freelance work from home.
Eric graduates. We make tough choices about what job he ought to take. We buy a house.

2008: Little Evie is born. Our third tiny blond terror. The final installment of the Rouse Girls Trilogy.

And...life just keeps chugging along.

Were we hurt by the recession? Well, our house probably lost value. Some of my freelancing got cut. For awhile there our budget was stretched pretty darn thin. But Eric has always had a job, and I've had work of some kind for most of the time. We've been healthy. We've never been in real need.

There have been hurts and troubles along the way. Disagreements with people I love. Times when I've been anxious and worried about situations I really couldn't change. Relationships that aren't what I wish they were. I have wasted time worrying about what others think of me and things that I've done or said.

I didn't spend my twenties doing fabulous things in the big city, or carving out a remarkable career, or traveling the world. Sometimes I regret that.

Still, at the risk of sounding intolerably smug, this has been a decade of good, good things. Love, work, family, friends--what more could a girl ask for? By the grace of God, I am blessed beyond what I could ever deserve.

2000-2009? Best Decade Ever.