Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Top 10 Most Memorable Events: 2009

Making lists.

Re-capping the past year.

We all do it. Even if it’s just in our minds.

The TV networks run a year end special featuring their “Best” and “Worst” pics of the year. The magazines staring you in the face at the grocery store checkout boast titles like “2009 in Review” or “Year’s 10 Most Beautiful People” or whatever.

Barbara Walter’s show featuring her pick of “The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009” stirred up a little controversy on the talk radio waves this year too. Her vote for Most Interesting was Michelle Obama, but her list included others like Lady Gaga, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Brett Favre, Jenny Sanford, Kate Gosselin, Adam Lambert, Tyler Perry, and Michael Jackson’s 3 children. As I thought about some of the reasons or perhaps more specifically, the events, that catapulted these people into the 2009 spotlight, it gave me pause. In today’s pop culture society, the experiences, events, successes, adversities or personality characteristics that make someone “interesting” and worthy of such public acclaim are quite often out of synch with the virtues and teachings I am striving to instill in my children and incorporate in my life. Still, I thought it was appropriate that her show’s descriptive caption is “Fascinating” rather than “Best.” Truly, her picks have each had a memorable year in the public spotlight, whether that be for good or bad.

And since we just ended a full decade, not just a year, the recaps at the end of 2009 were even more significant as the media threw out their votes for the last 10 years’ most significant events, trends, people, and music in politics, pop culture, entertainment and “life.”

Even though I do very little TV watching or magazine reading myself, I still see and hear it on my commutes to and from work, on the internet, at the stores, in the salon, and just through the chit chat of life.

So I was thinking about my life, and what I would put on my “Top 10” or “Best of 2009” list. What was most memorable about this past year in my home, my life, my small sphere of influence? I decided to make my own list for 2009.

I decided to call it “Kelli’s 10 Most Memorable Events: 2009.”

Although a few events clearly stand out in my mind, it was harder than I thought to choose ten significant happenings across all areas of my life, for good or for bad…So much happened last year, but much of it seemed like just the day to day of life. Looking through the window of perspective as I sit here today, this is my list. Final answer.

1) Running my first ever half marathon on 11/14/09. 13.1 miles in 1:57:30. What a tremendous experience that was to train for and complete this race.

2) Our last minute vacation to Kauai, Hawaii with Ryan and the Ellingsons. One week with no kids in a tropical paradise with great friends with first class accommodations!

3) The passing of my Uncle Mick, who died of brain cancer on 7/29/09, just 8 short months after being diagnosed.

4) Promontory’s emergence from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on 4/28/09. (Promontory is the project owned by Pivotal Group, my employer, that I have been managing since 2001. After a very long 2 years of attempted restructuring, failed negotiations and more drama than I care to re-live, the project is out of BK and healthier than ever. And I still have a job!)

5) Spending the 4th of July in Rocky Point, Mexico, with our family and great friends.

6) Running in the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day with Ryan, Barrett, Afton, and so many cousins and family members.

7) Bishop Uncle Jim’s diagnosis of Mantle Cell Lymphoma cancer in August 2009. Our prayers and fasting were taken to new heights, and the spirituality and chemistry in our ward family have been forever strengthened through Jim’s trial. We are thrilled that his most recent pet scan showed the cancer to be gone, but continue to pray that over the next 4 months as he endures more painful chemo, that it will forever stay away.

8) Buying, fixing, and selling our Standage house with our partners. It had been over 2 years since we’d done any new real estate deals, so this was a refreshing experience in the midst of the significantly depressed economy.

9) Barrett turning 11 years old in October! We now have an official babysitter in the house, which has made weekly dating of my devilishly handsome husband so much more do-able.

10) Ryan’s new church calling as Ward Scoutmaster and my new church calling as Ward Activities Director. Both have had such an impact on the busyness of our lives this past year.

So there you have it. What is your “Top 10” list for 2009? Did you write it down yet?

1 comment:

  1. GREAT LIST. I love your blog Kelli, very informative, very fun. Keep it up this year, and I can't wait to hear your list 12 months from now.

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