Taking a moment to look back...

2011: This evening I sit in our rocking chair with the cat next to me, resting my swollen feet on an exercise ball.  

2010: This time last year, we were spending our last day in sweltering hot Seoul.  After 20 days in Asia, first the Philippines and then Seoul, we headed home that day to Seattle.

 2009: Two years ago, we were eating watermelon and cucumber salad with grilled chicken in an old yellow house in North Capitol Hill that we had recently moved into.  We had recently returned from our wedding in the Midwest, and would soon be off on our honeymoon in Alaska. 

2008: Three years ago, we were nearing the end of our cross country road trip that brought us out to Seattle.  On the way, we stopped at the Spam museum in Minnesota, in the Badlands of South Dakota, and at Glacier National Park in Montana among other places.  Our last stop was Spokane, Washington.

 

2007: Four years ago, I had just finished up a trip to Salt Lake City, Utah for a Curriculum Mapping conference.  I was eager to get home to read the last Harry Potter book that had recently been released.

2006: Five years ago we were in the middle of our trip to Europe.  That evening we were hanging out in Rome, Italy enjoying the cooler evening temperatures, and we took a walk to the Trevi fountain.

 2005: Six years ago I had just returned to Chicago after a month in San Francisco attending a science workshop at the Exploratorium.  I went to Chicago Cycle that day to look at motorcycle gear and spotted this bike in the parking lot.  I was missing my love who was in Korea, not just for the summer, but for the year.

 2004: Seven years ago, I had just returned from a 2 week Forensic Science workshop that I took at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine.  I was happy to be back in Chicago with my sweetie.

2003: Eight years ago, I was in Bryan, Ohio visiting my parents.  Here's my dad in between playing the piano during Sunday mass.  This was a few days after seeing the Black Eyed Peas perform at Hard Rock in Chicago.  It was our first summer together since we re-connected.