A Year In the Life…

I saw this on Heidi’s blog and Lisa’s blog:

20 years ago: 20 years ago, I was finishing up my Freshman year at Ricks College. I was studying music… sort of. I took a music theory class and was in the Symphonic Band, the Symphony Orchestra, and the College Choir. I even worked for the Music Department. Around this time of the year, the music department usually sent a group or two on a “tour” so I went “touring” all over Idaho with the Ricks College Symphony. We stayed in church members’ homes all over, including places like Lewiston, Moscow (where several people got Giardia from a problem with the water system), and Sandpoint, a stone’s throw from Canada. I was dating someone that I really really liked, but she wasn’t in the orchestra. Someone in the orchestra really really liked me and found every excuse possible to be around me. I was sitting next to her on the tour bus, fell asleep, and when I woke up, we were holding hands. One of the roommates of the girl I was dating saw this, and reported what she had seen, and that was the beginning of the end of THAT relationship.

10 years ago: 10 years ago, I was married with two kids. I had been married for almost 7 years. My boys were 3 years old (almost 4) and 1 year old. We were living in our last apartment. It was my 3-year-old’s FIFTH home. Yes, we moved WAY too much back then. I was working as a software engineer, going to school part-time trying to get my 4-year degree, and teaching a class or two a semester at Utah Valley State College. It was an extremely busy, extremely difficult time. My wife and I decided to take a trip to The Netherlands and Belgium where I had served as a missionary. We thought that if we didn’t do it then, we would never be able to. How right we were! It was a wonderful 10 days of vacation where I got to show the love of my life a place I loved and introduce her to people that I had grown to love. We ate all the foods I missed, rode bicycles on cobblestones, visited a windmill village, climbed church towers, saw Dutch masters’ paintings, walked through the royal tulip gardens, and were denied entrance to the Anne Frank house because Yasser Arafat was visiting at the time. (I still wonder what the leader of the PLO was doing at a Jewish memorial in Amsterdam.) Later that year, we purchased our first home and haven’t been able to afford such a vacation since!

5 years ago: I had graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science and Information Systems a couple of years earlier and that had enabled me to get the job at Symantec that I was working at the time. I was supporting the Navy/Marine Corps Intranet, helping to improve their network security. I held a DSS Top Secret security clearance in order to work on Navy/Marine Corps networks, although the most highly-classified information I ever saw was limited to IP addresses. This was during the heyday of Symantec stock and I was able to pay off student loans, landscape my yard, and even buy a car at one point by selling stock options. This was also around the same time that I was in The Scarlet Pimpernel at the Hale Center Theater in Orem.

3 years ago: I was still working for Symantec and still loving it, though the beginning of the end of the Symantec American Fork lab was in progress. Management changes, layoffs, and other stresses were the order of the day, but I was still working on a special project, so I was mostly sheltered from all of that. We were outgrowing our house, not because we had any more children, but because we had too much stuff. In order to keep our house from feeling so full, we had concrete poured into the mud crawlspace under our home and we were able to store a TON of stuff under there.

1 year ago: Last year, I was finishing up “The Odd Couple” with the Pleasant Grove Players. I played Oscar. Other than the director (that somehow tried to center the show around the Pigeon Sisters instead of Felix and Oscar), it was a good experience. I also got cast in “No Time for Sergeants” at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. I had auditioned for a couple of other shows there, but couldn’t get a part. I had my very best vocal audition ever for “Lucky Stiff,” but was un-cast. *heavy sigh* But since they needed SOOOOOO many men for Sergeants, I was cast. My older son was about to turn 13 years old. WHAT?? When did I become old enough to have a teenager?? Later that year, I started exploring the possibilities of teaching fulltime because I was HATING my job. I had been laid off by Symantec the year before, I went to Altiris, and Altiris was subsequently purchased by Symantec. Fortunately, my job woes were cured when I was put under a different manager and I’ve liked working here again. That’s a good thing, because I would have to take a HUGE cut in pay to be a fulltime teacher, even after getting a masters degree.

So far this year: I started taking guitar lessons and I have been LOVING it. It’s a lot of fun. I was also cast in “On Golden Pond” with my older son. My part was small so I was also able to be the assistant director of the production. It was SO much fun to see my son pick up his character and take off with it. I’m also teaching a Math 0980 class at UVSC. To top it all off, I think I’ve gotten every single sickness that’s come along this year.

Yesterday I: Worked all day, came home, and prepared tomorrow evening’s lecture.

Today I: Worked. I took one of our Saturns in for its Safety and Emissions inspection. It passed both, but it needs an alignment and there’s a small leak somewhere around the water pump. There’s another $300 repair that needs to be done on top of the thousands of dollars we have already spent on car repairs on our three vehicles this year.

Later tonight: After teaching my math class this evening, I have a date planned with my wife.

Tomorrow: I’m planning on sleeping in late because I’m taking tomorrow off of work. I have a guitar lesson at noon.

This year I hope to: Get to where I can play a few songs on my guitar for other people.  Ride my bike a lot this summer so I can get back into decent shape.

3 years from now:  I hope to be able to afford the car insurance so my son can drive.  If having a son old enough to drive and date doesn’t give me a heart attack, I don’t know WHAT will!

5 years from now: I hope to be getting ready to send a son on a mission.  The other son will be driving and dating.

10 years from now: I want to have my house paid off.  Who knows…  In 10 years, I could have a son that is a college graduate, or even be a grandfather.  THAT is something I’m not ready for

20 years from now: I hope that I’m still alive.  Actually, by then I will be pushing 60 years old!