A grandmother is a mother who has a second chance

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Our first 10 years

Over the past week there have been a lot of newspaper, magazine and internet articles about world events that have occurred since this millennium began. You know - dot-com bust, banking fiasco, recession, elections, blah, blah, blah. But that made me think about all the events that have happened in our lives in the last 10 years.

Ed and I met in late 1999 so our "story" really began in 2000. Since that time there have been four weddings - my daughter, Ed's daughter, my son, and, of course, me and Ed!




Of our 13 grandchildren, 7 were born the past 10 years including a set of twins, and 2 amazing kids born in a village on the northern border of Russia where they lived for four years before finally coming home to us on Christmas Eve 2005.




We lost people, too. From January 2007 through January 2008 we lost three parents - Ed's mom and dad, and my dad. Those were difficult times but we had them around long enough to celebrate that.

Then, last year, we both found new "old people" in our families! For me, I met an Aunt Mary in France who will be 101 in February! She remembers my grandfather when he was a teenager. And on Ed's side we found Aunt Stella who turned 97 last August.


Oh, and my brother added two kids to his family during the last 10 years, also! He is now the father of four!!

And I was finally able to retire and say goodbye to the corporate world!! Yippee!!!

Neither Ed nor I had ever been out of the country (except for Canada and Mexico) until we took our first trip to Italy in 2004. Now, thanks to timeshares and airlines miles, we've been lucky enough to go to Europe 5 times!


All in all it's been quite an eventful 10 years. Can hardly wait to see what the next 10 will bring!





5 comments:

namaste said...

i always love your family stories. the pictures of the kids are great! and i LOVE the wedding pictures, especially of you and ed. he looks so handsome and you look beautiful. and you both look like high schoolers in love with your big wide smiles!

such a nice family history recap of your last ten years. thanks for sharing it with us.

Mellodee said...

Great kids, beautiful weddings, happy babies, true love, glorious travel, free time, real joy!

Ok, isn't that enough?? Do you HAVE to look so freaking great too? Where are the wrinkles? Where is the senior weight gain? Where is the grey hair? Do you have a painting in your attic like Dorian Grey?? Sheesh!


(I'm so happy for you. You are living the reward of a life well-lived! Keep at it kid! I'll live vicariously through you! Happy New Year, Sandi!)

Sandi said...

Mellodee - that's easy! Hair dye (for the gray), good camera angles to hide the fat. Being a greasy Italian not too many wrinkles on the face, but definitely have old lady neck! It's all smoke and mirrors!

Desert Diva said...

Loved the time travel back through the last ten years. Best wishes for the next ten to come!

Luz said...

Awwww, Congrats and Cheers all around Despite the tears of loved one lost it looks like memories will always be close to the heart. As Cheryl said...here's to another 10 years of joy and happiness.