I love the turning of the calendar. A new year is an opportunity to look back on what you’ve experienced over the past 12 months while building anticipation for what is to come in the next 12. When the decade is rolling over, that just makes it more fun.
I have vivid memories of Christmas break 1979, watching various decade-end retrospectives on TV, hearing ads that pulled the arrival of the ‘80s into their copy, and getting very excited about the new year. And I recall my parents giving me weird looks when I emerged from my room with signs that greeted the new decade. I guess we should have all known in that moment I would forever be obsessed with the eighties!
The 2010s were a more relaxed decade in our house than the 2000s were. Where the last decade brought marriage and three kids, this decade was all about our girls growing up. They all went to school, lost a ton of teeth, learned how to ride bikes, and played a lot of youth sports. I feel like S and I are pretty much the same people we were 10 years ago, although with a few more pounds and a little less of the natural hair color we had the last time we welcomed a new decade.
Over the past day I’ve done a quick review of the site’s archives. I read the subject lines and summary paragraphs of every post for the past ten years. Here are some of the biggest highlights of that period.
2010
The Colts lost in the Super Bowl
I covered the best high school basketball game of my writing career
I went to my first (and only) Indy 500
M started kindergarten and our St. P’s career
The Royals traded Zack Greinke
2011
(This year is incomplete because I lost about six months of posts because of my meddling with the site)
I attended Peyton Manning’s last game as a Colt
I ran the Mini Marathon
We spring breaked in Hilton Head
We purchased our first family fish
I began my review of the James Bond movies
KU fired a football coach
2012
The epic final Kansas-Missouri basketball games
Indy hosted the Super Bowl
KU made it to the national championship game with a memorable run
Peyton Manning left Indy
I ran into LeBron James and yelled at Mario Chalmers in an Indy hotel
We bought our lake house
I started brewing my own beer
C started kindergarten
The Royals traded Wil Myers and I was pissed
2013
We went to Disney and Captiva Island on two different trips
S got a new job
The Pacers damn near beat the Heat in the conference finals
The Royals contended until deep in September
We had a family wedding in Boston
2014
I refused to watch the greatest comeback in Colts history
We began the year with two massive snowstorms and bitter cold that cost us an entire week of school
The Jojo and Wiggs experience arrived with so much promise but ended with a whimper
We got rid of our minivan
Casey Kasem died
We bought a boat
L started kindergarten
The Royals made their first magical October run
I made my first trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse
I watched Kentucky absolutely destroy my Jayhawks
KU fired a football coach
2015
We returned to Captiva
The first mega-epic KU-West Virginia game
I bought a camera
A crazy storm made things very interesting at the lake house
The Royals freaking won it all
2016
I lost my stepdad
I coached L’s basketball team
I saw KU lose to Villanova in Louisville
S got to appear on TV several times
Prince died
We went to Orange Beach, AL for spring break
I saw Frightened Rabbit perform twice
I became kickball coordinator
I read the Harry Potter books over a three week period
We spent Christmas in Denver
2017
The BIFM experience
The second mega-epic KU-West Virginia game
L wore high tops to First Communion
Our last fish died
2018
KU-West Virginia played three more mega-epic games
We went to Mexico for spring break
KU made the Final Four
M finally won a city championship in kickball
Scott Hutchison died
We bought a new house, moved, sold the lake house and boat, and after a long wait sold our old house here
We survived three weeks without internet and cable
S and I went to New York for the first time
I became golf-curious
KU fired a football coach
2019
I argued with our gas/water company to get a correct bill after six months
KU’s Big 12 streak ended after 14 years
M won a city championship in volleyball
S nearly missed our spring break because her passport was expired
We went to Cancun
Tiger won the Masters
M went to DC and graduated from St. P’s
C rocked the city track meet
We built a pool
We went to San Diego
I took my first golf lesson and became golf-obsessed
M started high school
Andrew Luck retired
I’m sure there are some big things I missed along the way. But seems like it was a pretty interesting decade. I’m glad I survived it. I hope we are all lucky enough to gather around whatever the device of the day is in ten years to do this again.
Happy New Year to you all!