Life is strange!
Sometimes it's like a lazy Sunday afternoon. You have no plans and so you wait for it to get a move on, to pick up the pace, for something, anything to happen.
Sometimes, it's like a rollercoaster ride...it's moving so fast you can't see the huge drop that's coming up, waiting to plummet you to the ground while you're screaming your head off!
Why am I feeling this sense of nostalgia? Because I have the time for it today. I've just wrapped up a couple of days of hard work on a new project and so I have time to share my thoughts a bit. And I'm thinking about all the things that have happened recently.
For one, 11th of February was my daughter's first birthday. When she was born, I couldn't believe that I had contributed towards making something that beautiful. And now, I can't believe that a year has already gone by since I first held her. I've seen her grow and change so much in this past year, from a pale-faced little baby, all wrapped up tight in bundles of cloth, to a little crawling, gurgling bundle of joy. And now, she's walking! The sweetest moment on her birthday was when she got her birthday gift...a toy dog that yips and wags his tail. Funnily enough, the first time she saw him, the batteries were down and I didn't have spares. Beth didn't know that her new toy could do all the things he could, so imagine her surprise that same evening when I put in new batteries and the dog starts barking and wagging his tail! I'll never forget the wide-eyed look of surprise on her face!
I can't believe all the things that have happened in this past year. There have been some good memories, some bad, and some downright painful. It's difficult sometimes to come to terms with just how much my life has changed, how quickly every thing moves on. In some ways I'm still in the same place I used to be a year back, and in some ways everything is different. My wife and I are expecting our second child, so it feels like my life has come full circle. But this time around, I'm not surrounded by friends at work, I'm not rushing through work so I can drive my wife back home, because we don't work in the same office any more. No more looking to my manager when I want to give vent about a really messed up project because now I'm manager myself and it's time to support others. I'm not part of the old office gang that's practicing for the cricket tournament again this year, but I'm back to enjoying my PC games...sometimes the lack of human interaction can be a blessing in disguise.
Right now, life is like a lazy Sunday afternoon. I have no plans but I'm not exactly waiting for anything to happen either. One day I know I'll be back on the roller coaster, chugging along slowly towards the steep drop that I know is there but I just cannot see. So, I'm just going to sit back and make sure I'm strapped in safely!
