A year gone by

When you are looking at a year that has passed you can sum it up as a good year or a bad year. Because there is always some event that overshadowed the rest and tips the balance in favour of one or the other. So when it’s my turn to look at my own year, I’m pleased to say it was a good year. It was certainly not easy, by far not, but nevertheless it brought me a lot of happiness as well as insights and discoveries that I wouldn’t want to be without.

The year before (2007) I had met Reinout and in a matter of 6 weeks dating, I moved in with him in his temporary shack in Breda (it was in fact a very nice apartment that he could use from his friend). There we lived in a crowded but happy existance for 2 months until he moved in with me in my house in Haarlem. This was in December 2007. We scarcely had the time to get the Christmas tree up and  had to subsitutute a few missing bits and pieces from the house, which resulted in a few frantic IKEA visits. It was a strange time, when suddenly we had to form a new family unit of the three of us as well as a dog and a cat. We all struggled in our own ways but with time an every-day pace set it.

My divorce came through early this year, and it was not easy for any of the parties involved. I was so tired from the whole ordeal and on top of that my father had died a few months before and I was battling with that estate too. There were times I didn’t see the ending in sight. But with the divorce behind we could move on.

We had talked about getting married, and decided upon April 26. One day Reinout whisked me away to the Hague and presented me with the most beautiful ring I had laid my eyes on. That it was too big, didn’t matter, and they took out one diamond that Victoria got for her ring. Later on March 27, Reinout proposed, exactly a month before our wedding.

The next weeks went quickly, we got married in a beautiful and memorable ceremony and went on a honeymoon. A week after we got back, our baby was conceived. I believe I felt it and that month I had a strange premonition that the pregnancy test would turn up postive. It did! A few days before Reinout was fced with leaving his previous company and so it must have been very odd to have me barging through the doors one mid-morning, with tears falling down my face proclaiming I was pregnant. Like he didn’t have enough on his shoulders. Reinout looked lost, dumbfound and I wasn’t sure if he was happy or not. But he soon lit up like a sun and I felt a pang of relief. I think that afternoon changed a lot in both of our lives.

The next months Reinout battled and worked on his new company MMO Life in a furious speed. I have never seen someone so focused and dedicated.  If this period was difficult for me, it must have been a 100 times worse for him. But all the hard work was paying off and towards the end of the year they went live with their first site MMOhub. To say that I am proud of Reinout is an understatement. Perhaps a deep respect is a better description. I will leave it at that, because whatever I say will pale in comparison to what actually went on in those months.

On a personal level, Victoria began to thrive and excel in school and at home. There were a lot of tantrums and battles there too, but they paid off. Perhaps she is no more happy or sad than the average 10 year old, but she’s in a stable and loving environment with a dad that loves her and sees her as often as he can and the family here with me and Reinout. She also got her own dog, Cecile, a cute little Jack Russel that has taken centre stage in our family.

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What 2009 entails is difficult to predict. I’ve learned, perhaps the hard way, that life cannot be scoped out and executed according to a project plan. We can all steer it to a certain degree and predictability but Murphy’s Law is a fact of life. Still my gut instinct is that despite the glooming economy and various world events that leaves a lot to be desired, 2009 will be a great year. I have decided to make a personal commitment, to primarily myself, to take make that happen.  After all we are all in charge of our own fortunes.

One of the most memorable moments of 2008