I started 2010 with my favorite people in all the world: my family. We played Wii and ate snacks, and my godson spent the night at my house so he could keep playing video games for a few more hours. He fell asleep to The Doctor Seuss Sleep Book sometime around 3 am, just before all hell broke loose.

Drama ensued with a friend’s ex-boyfriend banging on my parents door while a toddler slept on a blanket bed on my floor.

You might say that the decade began with me realizing the things I wanted in my life and seeing clearly the things I didn’t want.

January 3, 2010 brought a trio of bad January 3rds. In 2010, I lost my boyfriend (got dumped). In 2011, I lost my car. And in 2012, I lost my job. I stopped paying attention to dates after that.

2010 was my experimental year. It was the year I said yes to a lot of different things. I tried on boys and friends and jobs like they were DKNY dresses.

“You know it’s not your style, but it’s right there, so you try it on anyway.” -Carrie Baradshaw

I was still obsessed with Carrie Bradshaw, not yet aware that the character was toxic and self-destructive. Not quite realizing that I, too, was a little on the self-destructive side.

I chased boys instead of dreams. I spread drama instead of joy. I let others dictate who I was instead of shouting from the rooftops that I was the only me there would ever be.

And then on December 15, 2010, I met someone who would become the catalyst that helped me uncover and fall in love with my true self. He didn’t change me. He wasn’t the reason for my transformation. But he did light a fire inside me. A fire that longed to know who I am and what I wanted. A fire that gave me permission to change my mind and build on the dreams I’ve always had with the dreams I create for tomorrow. I am a dreamer, and I will never stop dreaming.

I’ve spent nearly a decade with Brian, and time seems to both fly and last forever – each in the best possible way.

So thanks, 2010s. I still don’t know how to refer to you (the tens? The teens? The 2010s?), but I do know you made me a better, stronger me. You helped me get back to my roots and chase the dreams I’ve long been afraid to chase.

And for the record, I’m still glad I was a boy chaser in the 2000s/aughts/whatever, because we all know I had to chase Brian to the end of a Myers-Briggs test before he finally asked me out.

I know mine was full of joy and laughter…and sadness too.

Here’s a “quick” decade in review after that first year of the teens:

• 2011: Got a new car
• 2011: Snowmaggedon
• 2011: Started dating Brian
• 2011: Quit the restaurant/bar business forever
• 2011: Decided I didn’t want to be a teacher
• 2011:Got my first job in marketing
• 2012: I was laid off from a job for the first time ever
• 2012: Brian and I took our first vacation together
• 2012: I started this blog
• 2012: I made friends all over the internet
• 2012: Brian’s mom got sick
• 2012: I went back to Disney World (and dragged Brian) for the first time in over a decade
• 2012: Brian and I moved into our first apartment
• 2013: I started a new marketing job in the city working for Sears
• 2013: We lost Brian’s mom because cancer is the worst
• 2013: I started making money on this little blog
• 2013: Our apartment tried to kill me (and I learned I am highly affected by mold and doctors are the worst)
• 2014: We moved out of death apartment and temporarily into Brian’s childhood home
• 2014: We bought a house
• 2015: I left my job at Sears and started a new gig as a content editor
• 2015: I lost another car
• 2015: We got engaged
• 2016: I attended my first Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop and realized I was, in fact, a feminist
• 2016: Brian and I were married on a beautiful Friday afternoon in September in a sea of pink and teal
• 2016: We went to Europe (France, Belgium, and Disneyland Paris)
• 2016: The world changed a lot with a single election.
• 2017: I left my job and started chasing all the dreams
• 2017: Went to Disney World with my family for the first time in 20 years for mom’s 60th birthday
• 2018: I attended the Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop and was inspired to take my first class at The Second City
• 2018: We adopted our puppy, Lady Nymeria Stark (Nia) and filled our house with joy (and barking)
• 2018: I had my first several improv performances at The Second City and improved my writing tenfold
• 2018: I became a WDW annual passholder
• 2019: I finished the Improv A-E program at The Second City
• 2019: Brian and I traveled to Ireland and visited the places his parents hailed from.
• 2019: I auditioned for and got into The Second City music improv program
• 2019: I started taking classes at Westside Improv

Tonight, Brian and I will ring in the next decade together. One of the firsts we haven’t yet shared with each other. We’ll be among friends with a roaring twenties theme and bottles of bubbles.

And I’ll leave you with my hope for your new year. I wish you the best of the next decade and hope that you chase your dreams and live them out. May magic find you every day and may joy fill your hearts.

Happy New Year, friends. Joy and laughter always.