What did your life look like 10 years ago?

[E&Cmom]

I was a SAHM with 5 and 2 year old. Now I am back to work full time.

Still living in same home.

 

[antmaril]

Ten years ago, I had been widowed about ten months. Trying to figure out my new normal. In November, 2009, I had a very serious heart attack. Tough times, for sure.

These days, I am just trying to live my best life - traveling, spending time with family and friends. Things have settled down.

 

[Klayfish]

I had hair.

 

[quandrea]

Pregnant with my twins after five years of trying for them, and many, many miscarriages. My daughter was five. We were gearing up for a wonderful summer by the pool. I was stressed and worried about Downs Syndrome in my daughter and kidney issues and trisomy 18 in my son. We’d had problems at my 20 week ultrasound, so my pregnancy was far from an idyllic one. Still we were happy and hopeful for the future.

All turned out well. I carried to thirty seven weeks and delivered my daughter and son that September. Seven pounds ten ounces and seven pounds fourteen ounces respectively. They’ll be ten this year. My eldest daughter is now a beautiful fifteen year old.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I was planning my son's first Disney trip! We went in January of 2010. I was also busy putting on a show for people, so they didn't realize that my husband was a horrible, abusive person. Thinking about that makes realize how great my life is now.

 

[Magical2017]

I had taken a break from work to SAH with my boys. My second child was born 10 years ago. It was a non-Disney year--I think we went to the Outer Banks that summer. I remember years by the vacations I took, lol.

 

[ronandannette]

2009 was year two of surviving DH's complete professional and financial collapse - we were in residential construction and lost our shirts in the 2008 crash. The bleeding had stopped but we were far from recovered; we clung to God and each other and survived day-to-day. I became the bread-winner and it would still be a while before we really started to climb out. Today we're in about as good a shape as we're ever likely to get and in hindsight, losing everything except each other, our child and our health, I guess we really didn't lose much at all.

 

[Hikergirl]

My kids were younger and I didn't have any grey hairs

 

[luvsJack]

I had a 10 year old Dd that I was running from activity to activity. And two 20 somethings one married and one getting married. I was getting ready to become a grandmother. And we traveled on weekends to see ds wrestle a couple a times a month. I worked at the same place but in a different position. We had the same house. And dh decided to purchase his 18 wheeler.

Now we have an empty nest that is never really empty. I attend my grandchildren’s activities and help with the getting them there when needed. We travel two to three times a month to see ds, Dd and sil wrestle. And dh finally realized being an owner-operator was way more stress than he needed. He is now a company driver with a different company. The pay is better and more steady and he is much happier.

 

[Colleen27]

Exactly ten years ago, we were scrambling for a short-term rental because we had to be out of our starter home by the end of the month but closing on our current house had been pushed back several times and wasn't going to happen in time. Money was crazy-tight because DH's business was falling apart amid the housing meltdown, and we were already taking a big risk by plowing the vast majority of our remaining savings into a more affordable/sustainable housing situation. I had an infant and two elementary schoolers, two dogs and a cat, we were looking at needing about 6 weeks of in-between housing, and I was very peeved that our much anticipated "baby's first Disney trip" kept getting pushed back to accommodate the chaos. It was not the best birthday week I'd ever had, but at least I was too busy to worry about turning 30!

Now those two elementary schoolers are college students, one in his first "career" job and preparing to move out, I have a degree in a completely different field from my previous career and have gone back to work, DH closed his residential construction business and is much happier and less stressed doing industrial contracting, and we're starting to think ahead to selling the house that caused so much trouble back then because what we thought would be our "forever" home is starting to feel too big, too rural and like too much work as the kids grow up and move out.

 

[bcla]

Economy sucked but still had a job which I might have stuck around for too long given our particulars. Coworkers started getting laid off to save on salary, which should have been a sign. Was married less than 2 years and looking to start a family. Had a new house but I was dealing with stress because of worries about the job.

There are a lot of things I did wrong, but I'm just kind of happy that I'm still on my feet.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

Still same house and jobs for DH & I. But we have really embraced a more healthy lifestyle in the past 10 years. We were always active and never out of shape. But in the past 10 years we have really gotten into hiking and running. Trying to visit a new national park each year and running half marathons in different states. Also eating a lot healthier with more made from scratch meals and only shopping the outside aisles of the grocery store. I feel bad it took us until we were in our 30's to embrace the healthy life but never too late to start.

 

[fla4fun]

My parents were still alive, the people I work with weren’t out to stab each other in the back, and life was good. One year later it started falling apart and there has been no noticeable improvement. Some days I would like to just close out the bank account, hop in the car, and just start over somewhere else. One day, I just might follow through on that idea.

 

[EJ42]

Well...in 2008 I went to Disneyland, Disney World, Disneyland Paris, and China (Beijing) all in the same year. In 2009, about the only real difference was that I was still living in my old house (just bought this new one less than a year ago), and my company was still at our old site (we just moved to a bigger campus a few years ago).

Aside from that, I suppose it just didn't hurt as bad to move as it does in my 40s.

 

[Shelley Chiarats]

11 years ago we were living in Rochester NY. Husband had just been laid off and found a new job in Murray KY. Worried about selling the house and moving back home to Marion IL with Mom. Then in May he got hit on his motorcycle on his way to work - broken femur, tibia and fibula. We still moved in Aug and he started his new job on crutches. With the housing crash it took almost a year to sell the house in NY so we ended up staying with Mom and commuting. Then in Jan 2019 I started a new job in Marion thinking it would be temporary until we sold the house in NY and moved to KY.

I am still at that temporary job 10 years later making it the longest I stayed in one job. Husband got laid off a few years later from the KY job and was unemployed for a while making it a good thing that we were still living with Mom. But now he has been at his new job for over 5years. And to bring this all the way back around he broke his leg stepping off a ladder last month.

 

[AP1209]

Just moved into an apartment with my girlfriend (now wife) and her daughter after dating for 2 years. Still 2 years before my 1st trip to Disneyworld in 2011. Now we have a son and a house and planning our 5th trip to a Disney destination next year (Disneyland). What I didn't expect to happen was to become a stay at home dad. I was working a government job back in 2009. Been stay at home since 2015.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

2009 - Had 3 cancer surgeries in 14 hours. First surgeon made a terrible mistake and surgeon 2 saved my life. Lots of prayers answered and I was in a coma for 2 days. Then I needed 4 other operations for other issues. Had a radiation treatment and lost 60 pounds.

2019 - 2 years post cancer recurrence. My health is not great. 2 ds have moved out and bought their own homes. One is married and I have a sweet daughter in law and another one on the horizon. My 3rd ds is now a nurse so he keeps an eye on me and dh dreams of retiring.

 

[AlohaNow]

I was probably on a beach somewhere in Hawaii, because we had just moved there. Going to my kindergartner's soccer games and eating too much spam musubi!

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Wow, it is hard to believe so much has changed...

In 2009: I lived in a small town in a different part of the state. I lived in a different house obviously. I was in a different line of work entirely (teaching). I was still married to my ex-husband. It is like that was another lifetime. I think the only thing that would make me want to go back to that time is the fact I still had my mother.

In 2019: I live in a different house in the city. I work in banking (on the loan servicing end), I am married to somebody else. I have 2 step-children. My free time is spent doing more "family oriented" activities.

Pretty much the only thing that is the same is I have the same cat.

 

[MrsDuck]

College!