The Highs and Lows of 2010

With a belly full of Christmas lunch (and dinner), ample time wasted spent watching the cricket (Australia, what an embarrassment !) and much lazing about pondering on the couch…it was time to head back to the computer and recap the year gone past.

To sum it up in five words: What.A.Year.It’s.Been.

So, here it is – 2010: the good, the bad and the not-so-pretty.

Lousy Loopy Lows:

• Having Little N and K in the NICU for 16 days
• Having nipple thrush for almost 2 months (Oh.My.God…I have never felt such toe-curling pain like it !!!  Another story, another post…)
• “Someone” (ahem) forgot my birthday.  Not just any ordinary birthday, mind you, but the first birthday as his wife and mother to his twin sons (Oops, did I give it away ???).  Such (almost) unforgivable forgetfulness left me completely livid (to say the least) for three days.  (Yet another story, another post…)
• Having done the sums, it would appear that we would have changed a total of 5, 392 stinky poo nappies
• Do I need to say it ?  Yes, I do:  The sleeeeeep deprivaaaaatioooooooon !!!!!!!
  

  Me ? Tired ? What makes you think that ???

Hip Hip Hooray Highs:

• The much-anticipated arrival of our beloved boys – Little N & K
• Meeting and making life-long friendships with mothers of other premature babies who were in the NICU
  

  Friends Forever - Me and mums of other premmie pumpkins

• Being possessed by a motivation (or some would have said “insane”) streak, caused me to participate in the 14 km City2Surf Fun Run, then a month later, the 8km Bridge Run.  The crazed running phase continued as 2 months after that, I entered the 10 km Sydney Olympic Park Fun Run  (A friend on Facebook made a very good point:  “Why are they called ‘Fun Runs’ ?  Where’s the FUN ???”)
  

  My devoted Cheering Squad at one of the Fun Runs

• Aunty Sari visiting us from over yonder Honkers
• The amazing abundance of love shared and demonstrated by N and K’s grandparents – both Indonesian and Australian.
• Officially becoming a publishable (amateur) writer…with an alias pen name, no less (Okay, so it was only one 40o word newspaper contribution but I’m going to soak it up… for all it’s worth…).
• Starting up this blog

So, for the first time, in a long time, my year of highlights do not include exotic overseas trips or any grand, extravagant purchases.  I’m cool with that.  On the flip side, it was duly noted that, none of the listed lows entailed the usual worries and woes of the past – career, finances and yearning of material possessions.

Bigger house and car ?  I’ll be honest.  It would be nice.  I wouldn’t say no if someone was offering.  With our expanding family, God knows we need both.  But these past 12 months hasn’t been about anything tangible, shiny or lavish.  Instead, 2010 has seen a turning point of a different kind.  For me, the meaning and understanding of the year that was, can be found in – of all places – a Sheryl Crow song:

“It’s not having what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got”

Sheryl baby, you nailed it.