Negative Splits

I'm running through life in negative splits. Each year goes by faster than the last. This worries me a little, because I found that this year went so fast, I cannot imagine next year going even faster. My "baby", the first one, is 10 today. A decade old.

In the last 10 years I have held more than 10 jobs, moved 3 times, taken up 3 hobbies, quit 2 hobbies, and changed my outlook on life. I figured out what I wanted to be "when I grow up" and made a plan to get there from here. I've written a book, been rejected, and moved on. And in all that nonsense, I somehow have had time to raise a child from a tiny little baby into a person who's age now has 2 digits. C & I have the same number of digits in our ages. so. odd.

In so many ways it seems like 2 weeks ago that I brought her little 6 pound self home from the hospital, and then when we talk now about things and life and how it's "going", I realize that she's fast on her way to becoming a young woman. Ten. Oh my. Don't you remember when you were TEN? I do.

I wanted a horse for my birthday and asked if I could go to summer camp like a character in a book I'd read. I wanted to be a Nurse when I grew up, so I could be like my Aunt Hannah. Or, if that didn't work out, I wanted to be a Vet and Horse Race Jockey. I hated math, and my 4th grade teacher was kind of mean to me. I was the class clown. My parents were selling our house in the city and we were moving to a "big house" in the suburbs. It was my last year in private school, and by my 10th birthday I was aware of that fact. I wanted a big birthday party, but instead, we helped my Grandparents on their farm that weekend. Yea, I spent my 10th birthday weekend picking fruit, canning things, and helping my grandfather clean his garage. I remember that very very clearly.

And THAT is not what I want C to remember about her 10th birthday.

For C's 10th birthday, I told her she could do anything she wanted. Anything at all. Anyone with a kid knows it's pretty easy to hit $350+ for a large scale birthday party. So, I'm thinking $500 would be OK for a one time over the top party... yea, she didn't want a party. She wanted to go to Bermuda by herself to spend a weekend with Nana MJ. Unaccompanied minors cannot fly international. Instead I simply tagged her along on my Bermuda Race Weekend, on which, as it turns out, I'm not going to race, but that's another story for another day.

If the last ten years went by this fast, how fast will the next ten years go by?