Money Meme (aka: Time in a Bottle/Jim Croce Meme)

I have no idea how I missed this (life seems to be moving at warp speed these days), but Jen at "joythruChrist" TAGGED ME a week or so ago for this meme, and earlier this week kindly brought it to my attention!

Here's how it goes, grab ten coins out of your pocket, purse, couch cushion or wherever it is you keep your loose change. You have to have ten uniquely dated coins, so if you get a duplicate, pull out another until you have ten unique dates. Next, tell your readers a little about YOU the year that the coin was minted.

So, after digging through my coin purse to find TEN different dates--and in the end coming up with $1.52--I offer you these dates of possible interest:

1979 - graduated from high school - started college at THE university of Oklahoma, Oklahoma STATE University (GO POKES!!!)

1984 - first full year of marriage - we moved to Dallas, Texas to finish undergraduate work and prepare for seminary

1995 - was stunned by the Oklahoma City bombing (surprisingly, we were distantly acquainted with only one victim), I watched in amazement as the unimaginable images flashed across the huge television screen in the trade and investments department of the bank, my boss was responsible for corporate disaster recovery and our OKC office was just blocks from the blast - hubby and I moved from "the city" to "small town USA" where he had been pastoring long distance via bi-weekly three hour commutes (I always got a special preview of his sermons as I drove and he fine-tuned his messages--very sweet times together)!

1996 - bought our first house in "small town USA" - became proud owners of our first cat (a significant event in our marriage as hubby had never been a fan of indoor pets, much less a CAT!)

1997 - our second cat adopted us (he was irresistible) - I began a series of massive doses of medicine to treat my endometriosis and found out EARLY what menopause would be like--night sweats, hot flashes, random crying spells that my dear husband (and even my boss) witnessed with amazement and confusion, brain "hiccups" where I couldn't even add or subtract the simplest equations (not good for a banker!!), discovering important documents in the clothes dryer at home (still have no idea how they got there)--let's just say that it wasn't pretty!!!

1999 - we were now back in "the city" where I was offered and accepted my "dream job" - hubby and I traveled to Yellowstone National Park and had a great time in spite of the "lake" that developed one night in front of our tent!!

2003 - tried to keep up with two very energetic daughters who were still speaking a different language - Hubby was chosen as the corporate "Employee of the Year" which included an all-expense paid trip to Cozemel, Mexico for two--particularly timely since it was our 20th wedding anniversary and we were still in the very difficult early days of parenting to our new daughters - took the girls on their very first "family vacation" to one of hubby's and my favorite places--Colorado (Oh, how we had dreamed for years of taking our children there some day)!

2005 - continued to marvel at God's grace and power in the lives of two former orphans and their "crazy" adoptive parents - found out what it means to be a "soccer mom" as our youngest played on her first real team - camped in and toured New Mexico on our second "family vacation" - lost a very dear friend at the age of only 58 due to a brain aneurysm--the closest Xian friend that we've ever lost--yet another reason I don't necessarily look forward to growing old

2006 - did 2006 really happen cause I don't seem to remember much of it!! Let's see, we took the girls back to Colorado for a second camping trip - our oldest began to drive (legally on real roads rather than wide open pastures!)

2007 - lost my 77 yr. old dad after almost 30 years of battling Parkinson's disease - still trying to figure out where the much lighter colored (aka: gray!!) hairs on my head came from! Looks like 2007 is rapidly becoming "history"!!!

Now I should tag some others for this--hoping that they haven't already been tagged before! I'll tag Kristine, Terri (I KNOW you're out there!!!), and Ramona--all of whom should feel free to play or don't play!