A few years of "Pocket Change"

I love some of the kits Creating Keepsakes used to come out with. One of the first ones was called Penny for your thoughts, it was created by Stacey Julian and you can see it here, It's a concept called A Penny For Your Thoughts and it's designed to help you go back in time to capture thoughts about life-changing decisions and events and then revisit them with your current perspective...

I didn't quite follow that, but, I did scrap several important years in my life and how they were BIG YEARS and how they changed by life, better or worse.

Here are a few of those layouts, of course, it was easier to focus on the good years, I havent done all ten, I guess I am hopefull that there are some more good years to come, I am only 38 after all ;)

Since the layouts go into a round, penny shaped box, the layouts are round. Of course, the first year I selected was the year I was born. I found an old picture of my parents, they are divorced (since I was 15) so its hard to find pics of them together, boy do they look so different.

The next year I selected, as a life-changing year, was 1989, the year I graduated from Highschool and joined the Air Force. I have been in the Air Force my entire Adult life and worked my way through college while on Active Duty, so, of course the decisions I made that year, were huge, life altering or defining ones.

In 1995, my first son was born and he, of course changed my world! While, we call ourselves adults at 18, I really feel like we become true adults when we become parents, when we have to make decisions for other than hedonistic reasons, decisions that will affect more than ourselves. 1995 was also the year I went back to college. I stopped going to college when I started dating his father, in 1992 (another year that changed my life) because I wanted to spend my time with him, rather than in school.

In 1998, my second son was born and I learned that there is a huge difference in one child and in more than one. My second son was totally different than the first and my marriage was totally falling apart by this time, I was still in college and if I thought I was adult with one kid, I was about to learn that things could get harder and better! Looking back, I see how determined I was, I actually went to college 5 hours a night, a few nights a week and my husband met me in the parking lot between classes so I could nurse before going to the next class. I did all of my school work on my nights off, after bed time, so I could spend a few hours a week with my kids.

In 1999, I graduated from college, I had a very successful year in my career and my professional life was awesome! I received an Air Force level award, #1 lab tech of the year at my rank, I graduated Summa Cum Laude and I received several grants to continue my education.

In 2000, I gave birth to my third son.... yep, three boys and I learned just how determined I could be! My son was born premature and spent several weeks in the NICU. I was working on my Masters Degree and had a deadline in order to get commissioned as an Officer in the Air Force, so taking a break was not an option. I spent all day in the NICU with him, studying for rank and my college classes, I went to school in the evening (on crutches by the way, because, the day he was born, I broke my foot, falling down the stairs). I went to classes for 5 hours in the evening, back to the NICU to nurse him before going home and passing out every night. When I get tired now, I wonder how on earth I used to do it! I know I couldnt do it again!

 

In 2005, I moved as a single mom, across the country, I lost a child and my 3 sons were into everything that year, stitches, broken bones and busted teeth. We adopted our first cat and we built a new life, after ending a relationship with the boy's "Big Brother" (big brother and big sisters program) who also happened to be my fiance. It was a huge change for all of us and we made it through a huge move, the loss of a child a break-up and a major bout of depression, it was the start of a new life for all of us.

Well, those are the only ones I have done so far, in the kit, they are called 10 years of change. Those are 6 of my 10, it was both fun and heart wrenching to look back at some of those times. Mostly, I learned the strength of my convictions and the results of my hard work and determination. I hope you enjoyed looking back with me and learning a little bit more about who I am.