Decade challenge

With 2019 coming to a close, social media has taken it upon itself to create a new social trend, the decade challenge. What is the decade challenge you ask? Well pretty simple and self explanatory, all you have to do is find a picture of you when the decade started (2009) and when the decade ended (2019) to compare. I can fully get on board with this challenge and for once it isn't something extremely stupid like eating tide pods (seriously still trying to figure out that one). however, I am challenging everyone to take this decade challenge a step further. It is easy to compare two photos and see how much you have physically

changed, which for me is just bigger bags under my eyes and crazier hair, but lets compare as well how much we have changed in our life's overall. Your life can change in a matter of minutes so imagine what a decade has done to it.

In 2009 I was 13 going on 14. I was carefree, innocent and had this big idea in my head of what life would look like, you know where I wanted to be in the upcoming years. High school was on the horizon and I figured those would be the best years of my life. Flash forward to those 4 very long years and man was I wrong. High school was anything but the best. It was heartbreaking, challenging, exhausting and nothing short of a struggle. Don't get me wrong I was good at school but the social aspects of those years put me through the ringer. I learned quickly that trust can be broken as quick as it is granted, everyone talks about you even if they say they don't and sometimes the people closest to you end up hurting you the most. In 2014 I graduated early and kissed that part of this decade goodbye without a second thought.

After graduation I found myself working full time at a preschool to save up enough money to pay my way through college and in a relationship to this day I will always regret. I figured I would end up marrying him because lets be honest I never saw a way out back then. God however saw other plans for me and gave me the strength to walk away and led me down a completely different path.

In early 2016 I welcomed a little girl whom I will forever say saved me. Becoming a mom at 20 was nowhere in my plans but sometimes those unplanned miracles are the biggest blessing of all. I found myself starting my "roaring" 20's a single mom with little clue how I was going to do it. I won't lie and say everyday since has been easy or rainbows and butterflies, but it has been the most beautifully challenging and rewarding part of my life. And while I still don't have it all figured out, you can bet I am trying my best.

The last 3 years of this decade have brought the most change. Within a year of my daughter being born a custody battle began that just recently ended. And while it may physically be over, the emotional and mental scars will always be there. At the same time this was going on I lost someone very close to me whom I loved dearly, my grandpa. Nothing in life can ever prepare you enough for the death of someone, but from it you do take away the most about living your life and loving those close to you everyday. That fall I began a new job at a preschool which has been by far one of the biggest blessings. As a result I am now going back to school to earn my degree for my daughter and am leading a classroom of the most adorable 2/3 year olds. Sometimes when it feels like everything is falling apart, it really is just beginning to fall into place.

I end this decade with one last change, one that I have waited so long for but let me just say it was well worth the wait. In the last few months of 2019 I met the most amazing man, one whom loves my daughter and I more then I could ever hope for. He is my (our) best friend and better half. I thank God everyday for leading us to him and for all that he does for us. I end 2019 with a man who shows my daughter everyday how a women should be treated, how her mom should be loved and above all how very special she is to everyone.

This past decade has done more then add a few bags under my eyes, it has given me more strength then I ever knew possible, shown me how precious and fragile life is and made me into the women I am today. I began this decade a young teenager and I end it a mother. Thank you for each life lesson, tear shed, laugh shared with friends/family, every up and down and above all for all the mornings this decade I have woken up on this earth. Goodbye 2009-2019, hello 2020. I cannot wait to see what this next decade has in store for me.

PS. Dear future, I am ready for you. Let's turn the page in my life story to a brand new chapter.

~Whatever happened over the years, be thankful for where it brought you. Where you are is where you are meant to be.~