5 years later...

Okay, I meant to post this last month but what can I say? I'm a procrastinator and busy as hell.

5 years ago I moved to Ohio from Lanky-town and a whole crazy lot has happened. Let's review:

• I moved into my first "big girl" apartment where I lived (blessedly) alone with my 4-legged companion
• I was adopted by my awesome friend Marg, who introduced me to the city and to internet dating and has made my life in OH way more entertaining than it otherwise might have been
• I tried internet dating. All in all, a fairly good experience as far as dating goes and that's how I met my wonderful and amazing husband
• I met Michael in Jan '04 and here we are happily married for over 2 years. We have a very nice life (albeit a tad stressful at the mo'), a beautiful home and each other.
  
• We also have a mortgage and HELOC debt, we've put 2 dogs to sleep and adopted a third, deal regularly with crazy family member issues and struggle to keep our sanity while Michael looks for a job
• I realized along the way that non-profit organizations are every bit as soul sucking as for-profit companies but without the salary and benefits package, bonuses and extra PTO that for-profits often provide. We're expected to pay our bills with warm fuzzies instead.
• Oh, yes. My parents got divorced somewhere in there. I almost forgot that one.
• I quit my "real" job and took a waitressing gig while going to nursing school.
  
• Realized the life plan I had when I came out here 5 years ago is nothing like real life as it has unfolded.

So, it's been a busy 5 years and it's turned out very differently than expected. Not in a bad way, mind you, just different. I never thought I would have stayed in OH for longer than 3 years and I had no hope of meeting the man who would become my husband. And I definitely never thought I'd have to put by baby girl to sleep anytime soon. But here I am and here we are.
We're facing a lot of uncertainty until Michael gets a new job and then we'll be off on some new adventure. Stay tuned....