Onto a New Decade

In the first decade of the 21st century, the Thayer family experienced a lot of change.  

In 2000 the first of our children married; in 2001, the second; in 2002, the third. 

In 2001, we were blessed two grandchildren. In 2004, two more; in 2005, two more; in 2006, another, and in 2009, another. 

In 2004, the last of our children graduated from high school; in 2008, she graduated college. Also in 2004, my husband earned his masters degree in counseling; and in 2008, I graduated with my masters degree in education, and our soon-to-be future son-in-law earned his college degree. 

By 2001, my husband and I had left our life work and moved on to other employment. In 2003, I was hired as a public school teacher, something I never thought I would be, and my husband started his work as a counselor. 

In 2004, my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. We celebrated our 36th in 2010, and our daughter was married that same month.

We lost my husband's dad in 2002, my only living grandmother in 2004, and this year, 2010, my extraordinary father made his passage. 

Currently, in spite of the lousy economy we are in, all of us, our children and in-law children are gainfully employed, drive working vehicles, and live in relative close proximity of each other. The exception is our oldest and his family who live in Florida, but thanks to trains, planes, and automobiles, we see each other fairly often. 

In 2001, we thought we had arrived when we purchased our first computer and acquired dial-up Internet access. Now, in this house where we live with our youngest son, youngest daughter, and her husband, we have seven working computers, one non-working computer (2001 model, by the way); two of which we do not use, one of which is only for our daughter's business, and three of which are laptops. We all benefit from TV cable high speed connection distributed via a wireless router. 

In 2002, I acquired my first cell phone. My husband had one that his job provided, and we had a land-line in our home which had the same phone number since 1976, the year our first child was born. In 2008, we discontinued our land line altogether, and currently we have five cell phones in the house.

Well, enough of this, I suppose. It is good to reflect on the changes and trends that happen in a decade, but only if it's occasion to stop and give thanks for all of the blessings. As people enter and exit our family, we are enriched and changed forever. It is difficult to imagine another decade as eventful as this, and it really doesn't matter. 

But one thing is certain. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.