Considering the fact that I barely sat still over Christmas break, my recap of the last decade is a little bit late. This will be quite the trip down memory lane that I hope you will all enjoy. Maybe you're even a part of it!
2000-- I ring in the new year at my aunt and uncles house. My mom makes us fill up the bathtub in case there is a Y2K water shortage. Nothing happens. I am put in a class with my favorite high school teacher (Mr. Stanton) and my affection for him grows when he finds out who my crush is and sits me by him for the rest of the year. Ha! I finish my freshman year of high school and have major jaw restructuring surgery. After much testing to be sure I don't have (another) bad reaction to the anesthetic, I do. My jaw is banded shut and I lose upwards of 10 pounds in less than a week and continue to lose weight. My parents take great care of me and bring me lots of KFC mashed potatoes. I heal over the next six months, but my face and nose look very different-- so different that my uncle doesn't recognize me at Christmas.
2001-- I play my first year of soccer at my high school. I love it and the friendships I make. I run for Junior Class President against one of my close friends. It is hard and sad and after a lot of thought and prayer, I back out of the race the morning of the election. I get an in-school suspension for talking in class, then chucking a highlighter at my principal in frustration-- BAD! I go on two mission trips that summer and fall fast for a guy I swore I never would like. Drama ensues for the rest of the summer and into my junior year of high school. I get my driver's license on my 16th birthday in August. The first place I go as an independent driver is to my grandma & papa's apartment, then to see The Princess Diaries. The first song I hear as an independent driver is something by J Lo. I begin attending a different church than my family and love it. I develop a crazy crush on a guy from youth group who never knows it. I hear about September 11 (Picture Day) from Mr. Howard during AP History. We watch the coverage for the rest of the school day. I don't cry until we see the second tower fall. Life for my family changes since my dad is an airline pilot. I learn to have a lot more faith in the Lord.
2002-- I run for Senior Class Vice President and win. I finish a very unremarkable but enjoyable junior year of high school, although it was replete with boy drama. During the summer, my grandpa's Alzheimer's Disease progresses. I start my senior year of high school and love being a class officer. I spend most of my time with friends from church or my core group of friends from school. I go to Senior Homecoming with one of my best guy friends who is also my co-VP. We make fun of Kate and her boyfriend constantly and we know they love it. I have an amazing group of friends. I play Rachel Lynde in our school's production of Anne of Green Gables and I love every minute of it.
2003-- I am a captain of the soccer team with two of my closest friends. On the second day of practice, I tear through the ligaments on my right ankle and am casted. I don't play much that season. We go on our Senior Trip to Florida where I get to ride in a wheelchair through the amusement parks and skip to the front of the line. I meet my future husband on a college visit day and think he's cute. My extended family goes through a horrible situation that is not truly resolved until 2007. My Papa Berdan dies in May and it's the first time I see my dad cry. I graduate from high school standing next to my friend Josh who I sat next to on the first day of kindergarten. I have my first nanny job that summer for a 3 month old named Hunter. In the fall, I leave for Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana knowing that I will major in Elementary Education. I room with my three best friends from high school. I meet the guy that will cause me much heartache, strife and drama for the next few years (not Ty!!!). I see Ty around but don't know him well enough to ever talk to him.
2004-- I begin dating this guy and get my first kiss from him-- ew. I become close with my freshman RD who becomes like a big sister to me. I go to South Carolina for spring break with a group of my girlfriends. I break up with my boyfriend that summer after he comes for a visit and everyone tells me he's not good for me. I nanny for Hunter again and work in his mom's law office. I see Tyler over the summer when mutual friends get married and we become friends. My Gramma Petri dies on my birthday-- worst birthday ever. I date two great guys but break up with the last one when I go back to IWU in the fall and connect with bad ex-boyfriend. I date him secretly for about 4 months-- AGAIN, BAD. My best friend from college, Elisabeth, and I have all our classes together and do everything together,which earns us the name "Rachabeth". I pass out in a bathroom in the middle of the library and get transported to Marion General Hospital via ambulance. I get mono in November and end up in the ICU with internal bleeding from my spleen. I miss several weeks of school due to my illness and hospitalization.
2005-- I go back to school and tell bad ex-boyfriend it's over for good. After a very scary incident that included a hand print shaped bruise on my arm, it is over permanently. Ty comes into my life as a friend only (HA!) and we start hanging out. After scary ex-boyfriend finds out, he and his friends vandalize my car earning themselves a campus restraining order. Tyler and I start dating on February 10 and our first date is at Chipotle. That summer, I begin nannying for a new little one named MacKenzi. It is an amazing job. Tyler and I visit each other over the summer and keep going strong. I start my junior year at IWU and room with Elisabeth. We laugh all the time and people still think we're nuts. Tyler and I keep dating but go through some ups and downs.
2006-- Tyler starts the new year by dropping the "L-bomb" (love). I am thrilled. When we get back to school, we go through another rough patch but make it through. I have an emotional breakdown that spring and finally get on the path to some healing. It is not easy. Tyler graduates and moves to Columbus, Ohio for his job. We start a long distance relationship. I nanny for Mackenzi again. I go back early for my senior year of college and start my student teaching in a kindergarten classroom. I discover how much I love kindergartners and I have an incredible cooperating teacher. Through my school corporation, I am hired for a long term sub job for kindergarten at another school starting at the beginning of 2007. I graduate from college a semester early.
2007-- I attend Passion in Atlanta and my relationship with Christ is never the same. I get engaged to Tyler in February! We have dinner at the top of the John Hancock Building and then see Wicked. I call my parents, then my grandma, then my cousin/sister/maid of honor. I show my ring to everyone sitting around us at Wicked, whether they wanted to see it or not. :) I teach kindergarten in Marion, Indiana and live with a wonderful family that I met through student teaching. I get a job teaching sixth grade at CCS. I plan a wedding in six months and we get married on my 22nd birthday. Best. Day. Ever. We move to Cincinnati where I really struggle from homesickness for the rest of the year and beyond. We attend a very small local church that we really enjoy. I meet one of my best friends, Dana. I start a blog.
2008-- My sweet Grandma Berdan dies very unexpectedly in February. It is devastating to me and it takes me several months to truly recover. I am asked to teach third grade for the next school year and I happily accept. We switch churches and join a small group. We move to a new apartment. I nanny for a lovely family in Cincinnati with two young children. Malia is born in July. We celebrate our anniversary by going to Boston for a week. I start teaching third grade and really enjoy it.
2009-- Dana gets pregnant again. I come down with a bad case of pneumonia that takes me away from work for 2 weeks. We take a vacation to Florida with our friends Meg and Chad. I train for and complete my first half marathon. I finish teaching my first year of third grade and say goodbye to a student who made my life miserable. We take a vacation to New York City with Tyler's family. I take a missions trip to Poland with my mom and my home church and meet a new friend. I begin my third year of teaching. Tyler and I work in the infant room at church during the fall. Malachi is born nearly two weeks late in October. We buy our first home and move in. We ring in the New Year with Dana, Corey, Chad, and Meg.
I can't help thinking about what the next ten years will bring! Hopefully some kiddos and maybe even a move back to Michigan-- hey, I can hope and dream!! ;)
Happy, happy belated new year! I am so thankful for all of you who read my blog. It makes it so much more fun to write!
9 comments :
Great recap! That was so fun to read. I'm amazed at all you remember!
Good idea!! Why did you have to have jaw surgery? Mine locks and I fear I'll have to do that too at some point. I LOVE the part where you showed your ring to everybody at Wicked - I did that in a Taco Bell drive through the next day and Jack was so embarrassed! :)
I totally remember visiting you during your jaw surgery. You threw a highlighter at Doc? Amazing.
Oh, gracious heavens, Roo... that just brought up fountains of memories! Remember when I told you that you came down like a tree, and weighed just as much when you passed out in my arms? Whoops, that probably wasn't the nicest thing to say to you as I walked by you in the stretcher. But it was true!
What crazy fun ups and downs we've had. I love you.
1. weird that we were so close in proximity in a lot of those years and hung out with a lot of the same people but just never really clicked together. i think we were at different places in life then. :( sad.
2. i'm sorry about the booth drama. i've always felt bad about that. public confession.
3. i was scared for you when you passed out in children's lit. i remember being glad elisabeth was there to help you...even if she did say you weighed as much as as a tree.
4. my husband had nothing to do with the car vandalization or anything else during that time. just wanted you to know. :) he's a good dude. :)
p.s.--i don't yet know why i show up as a number, but this is hayley. :)
loved the insight into your last ten years. i hope that the next ten are amazingly blessed by our Savior and Redeemer.
laughing so hard about the HS stuff and sad about some college stuff I didn't know :( I had no idea he was such a creep!
Senior year was awesome. "Here chick chick chick"
And thanks for the shout outs :) LOVE YOU
I love that you did a decade recap! I saw a lot of year long recaps (I was guilty of that myself...) but the decade one was a good one!
Heather "Lieder" Mester: Rachel, I have to say, I LOVE how you said, "I said goodbye to the third graders who made my life miserable." Hilarious. I know exactly how you feel...my second year class (of third graders) was HORRIFIC. I yelled on the last day hahaha...yay for you! God Bless!
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