The five best decisions I have ever made

Friday, September 30th, 2011 - 11:49pm
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  1. Falling in love with Daniel.

    Dan and I met in the summer of 2000 while we both worked mostly closing shifts at Burger King. It was mid-July to be exact, and I had just ended an eight month online[1.I do firmly believe in the validity and potential success of online relationships, and for what it's worth, the reasons I ended it had nothing to do with it being an online one. Oh, and we did meet in person.] relationship. While I did not regret that, I nonetheless was more than a little down and sad from closing that chapter of my life. However, Dan was not a rebound. I dedicated myself to learning my new job and doing good at it, and even though I noticed Dan right away and enjoyed working with him, I kept to myself. It took a few weeks of us talking casually at work before things blossomed into more, and it was on August 16th, 2000 that we had our first date. The rest is a very long eleven years worth of beautiful, memorable history. We’ve had our ups, our downs, our challenges and our tributes, but most importantly we’ve had each other and our intense love of and devotion for one another. Daniel is my best friend and my soul mate, and each day I am incredibly thankful that I met him and am lucky enough to be sharing my life with him.

  2. Moving to Pittsburgh in 2002.

    In August of 2002 I moved with Dan to Pittsburgh, where he started his third year of college. The first two years of our relationship were rough, since he was on the other side of the state and with the exception of a few weekend breaks, holidays breaks and the summer, our main form of communication was internet (email, chat). In June of 2002 I turned eighteen, so there was nothing stopping me (*cough*my mother*cough*) from leaving, which I desperately wanted to do for several weekends — most importantly, to be with Dan. And secondly, to get away from my mother and all of the drama and tension that went along with us living under the same roof (I was also tired of being her built-in babysitter and housekeeper).
    Our two years spent in Pittsburgh were beautiful, stressful, crazy, and financially lacking (we used to donate plasma for grocery money!), but those two years have given me (and hopefully us, heh) some beautiful memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

  3. Having Alyssa and Ryan.

    I was never a kid person. I’m still not, actually. I joke that I don’t like any kids but my own, but you know what? It’s true. I’d rather serve a week of jury duty than volunteer for a day in a preschool or kindergarten classroom. I’ve already begged off of volunteering in Alyssa’s Girl Scout troop in exchange for providing other types of contributions instead (money, baked goods, snacks, art supplies, etc.). A big part of why I so abruptly left home in August of 2002 (I didn’t tell my mother, I just packed and planned on leaving early one morning; she happened to find out the night before, but it didn’t put much of a damper on my plans — it just sped them up) was because I was so sick and tired of taking care of my brothers all of the time. I had my fill of toddlers and kindergartners and school buses and therapists and IEPs and diapers. I swore being a practically full-time caregiver to my little brothers was excellent birth control.
    Then, in January of 2004, I got pregnant with Alyssa. It was unplanned and unexpected, and the timing was definitely not the greatest (some of you who have been reading my blog for a long time may remember some of this!). But I knew I couldn’t abort. I’m pro-choice because I feel the option should always be there (though I do feel that there are women out there who take it too lightly and need to step it up as far as being responsible with birth control, because while I am pro-choice I also feel that when you abort a baby you are murdering it!), but it’s not a choice I could make for myself. I came to terms with having a baby relatively quickly, Dan and I got our shit together, and then, less than two years later, right around Alyssa’s first birthday, we decided to have a second baby – and along came Ryan in July of 2006. ♥
    To this day I am still not a kid person, but I love and cherish my own children, and have no regrets or second thoughts about choosing to be a mother.

  4. Working from home.

    I stumbled across working from home by pure chance – or luck, depending on how you look at it. It was January 2007, and Amanda was telling me about PayPerPost. I signed up, was quickly approved, and was soon making $50-$75 per week on sponsored posts. An advertiser privately contacted me and hired me to write SEO content, and suddenly my weekly income quadrupled. My experience in SEO work and my long history of blogging and just letting it all hang out there (which is not always a bad thing, heh) led me to several other paid blogging companies, SEOwhat, EdenFantasys, and a steady trickle of private advertisers, and here I am, going on five years later, still working from home, with no plans to ever take on a job that requires me to leave my house every again. I bring in a decent income that has definitely improved our quality of life and has enabled Dan and I to do so much for our kids and ourselves; it has also enabled us to have the means to add my brother to our family, too. Not a day goes by when I am not sending up a whisper of thanks to the powers that be for giving me these amazing opportunities — even when I’m bitching about overflowing inboxes or stupid job-related issues!

  5. Having gastric bypass surgery.

    As I type this, I am 170.6 lbs. My Victoria’s Secret yoga pants are a size large and fit very comfortably; my underwear a are a size medium; my sports bra is also a medium; and I’m wearing an XL-sized shirt from Victoria’s Secret that is ridiculously baggy; and a size large Victoria’s Secret hoodie that is too bagging a bit. But more important than clothing sizes and prominent collarbones and hip bones is the fact that I am so much healthier. I have hopefully drastically reduced the risk of developing hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes (three conditions that have plagued the obese members of my maternal family going back three generations); I have eliminated the strain on my muscles and joints (a 24 year old should never wake up with aching knees); I have hopefully extended my lifespan by a good decade or more; and I am setting a good example for my children. I’m not only healthier, I’m happier. I finally feel like I FIT – both literally and figuratively.

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