Ah, Nostalgia--Ten Years Ago

Katherine at Raising Five tagged me for this very fun meme. You can read hers here. She was all fancy-like and included pictures along with her post. While I would like to offer you the same high level of technology, our version of cut and paste around here literally involves scissors and glue. I'm kidding. I just don't have a scanner.

And because I have a short attention span on weekends, I am breaking this one up.

So, what was I doing 10 years ago???

Let's see. That was the year that I moved from teaching 3rd and 4th grade to teaching 1st grade. I was scared to death! But, I ended up LOVING 1st graders. I was also going through training for Reading Recovery. The classes lasted until 7:00 or 8:00 pm, but what did I have to do?

We lived in our first house. It was built in the 1950's and I really liked it. I just didn't like waking up to new graffiti on the business that our house was behind. Oh, and the Gang Task Force car parked outside of our house. Other than that, it was really nice. Lots of nice, retired people on our block.

If I remember correctly, that was the year that those sweet little retired people were NO HELP AT ALL! I came home from summer school at noon one day to find our gate was open. Great! Someone let our dog out! I was so relieved to see her waiting at the front door for me. When we got inside I noticed the back door was wide open and realized our house had been robbed. Where was our security of having all these people home during the day who went out and picked up sticks out of their yard several times a day watching our house? Later our across-the-street neighbor, the one who always brought us vegetables from his garden, told us he saw our dog running around the front of the house barking and trying to get in all the windows.

Um, do you usually see our dog doing that? Could we maybe call the police next time?

We were also trying to have children that year after being married for 4 years. In just one year we would be pregnant with Sweetheart. So I guess 1997 was just about our last year of being childless. I had no idea the joys before us! No idea. Why didn't we start sooner?

I spent every Thursday night that year parked in front of the television. I watched Friends, Seinfeld, ER, what else? The whole time I graded papers too. Every Thursday night. I think I pretty much only got up for restroom breaks.

Man, my life 10 years ago seems like a lifetime away!

Next time, just for my friend Kathy who loves it when I do "to be continued" posts, I will tell you about "20 Years Ago." Isn't nostalgia wonderful?