A Real Achievement

So, today is December 1st. I love December... I love the Christmas lights and music, the feeling in the air and the beautiful nativity set my mother gave me that I get to look at on my mantle all month long. But today, as I was driving home from running errands, a new thought occurred to me. It was one that was too good not to share, so here it is.

Now it is December, which means fall is officially over. (For the record, I don't believe this garbage that winter doesn't start until the 21st or whatever day. In my mind, December=winter, and therefore, the ending of fall). And for the first year in a decade, my fall was FANTASTIC!

That's right... Autumn is a beautiful season. I have always loved the crispness in the air, and the changing leaves, and Halloween and Thanksgiving... but for some reason, fall has always seemed to have it out for me. And unfortunately, it usually involved problems of the heart (anyone who knew me in my single years knows that this was not unusual ANY time of the year... but fall always seemed to rise to the occasion each year) So let's quickly review:

Fall 2000:
-Following a dreamy summer of being sure that high school heart throb was FINALLY going to decide to be in love with me, he got a girlfriend... and it wasn't me. I spent September, October and November in deepest teenage despair.

Fall 2001:
-Certain that my life had come to an end because I had to (gasp) leave home and go to college (unheard of) I spent my days staring at pictures on my ceiling of high school heart throb (who still had never dated me) and telling everyone I knew and didn't know, who cared or didn't care about how wonderful he was. Oh, and I was horribly homesick.
-High school heart throb made an 8 hour drive to come visit me at school and I spent all of my semester money preparing for his arrival! He spent the whole weekend flirting with my roommates. Booo. Oh and then he told me that he knew that I wanted to marry him and that, well, was NEVER gonna happen. What? You mean I'm THAT transparent?????

Fall 2002:
-After a magical summer of singing "Cowboy take me away" (yes, I FINALLY got over high school heart throb) he tried (to take me away that is) and through a series of complicated circumstances, I turned him down... he moved across the country and I.... spent that fall crying my eyes out and continuing to listen to Dixie Chicks in effort to make myself feel better/worse (you pick)

Fall 2003: Yep. Still crying and singing Dixie Chicks. Yep, cowboy still lives across the country and has hated me ever since I broke up with him. Yes, I have issues with moving on apparently.

Fall 2004: Finally got over cowboy and started dating dreamboat #4 (we skipped #2, he was unimportant and happened in the summer, not the fall). Blissful summer with dreamboat followed by (are we sensing a pattern here) him dumping me for another girl in September.... and then marrying her. BAD fall.

Fall 2005: Start of nursing school-most stressful semester of my life. First failed test in college.
-McHandsome #6 (we skipped #5... short lived) told me he thought he was going to marry me... and then dumped me for another girl in my ward a week later. I've seriously got some bad karma going on here.

Fall 2006: Man of my dreams #9 (since fall 05 we added 3 more, and brought back #5 for a short time... just to keep things interesting) played yo-yo with me all fall long. Luckily, I fell right into the open arms of the guy (#12 (we skipped 10 and 11 over the summer) who my roommate and best friend had been in love with for a year. Oops. Not exactly proud of that one, nor did it end well for anyone. By the end of fall 06, I had lost my best friend, and open arms man dropped me like a hot potato for his ex girlfriend. Ouch.

Fall 2007: Move to Salt Lake, failed nursing boards, and heartache #13 (best friend of open arms #12) and I broke up at LEAST once a week for 6 months straight. By fall, I was on the verge of a mental breakdown, (seriously, can you blame me after that year) and finally blocked his number and went into hiding. Ha! NOT a pretty fall to say the least.

Fall 2008: We skipped #14 and on to... heartbreaker #15... we were right in the middle of one of our majorly dramatic on again off again "we don't date, we just act dysfunctional" cycles. Pretty sure we had one really fun date that entire couple of months.

Fall 2009: Enter Otto Stronach Shill IV. Man we had fun together that summer... and then I spent all fall feeling frightened and weighed down by the prospect of something ACTUALLY working our for a change... it was very stressful you know! I was used to being dysfunctional and he was trying to make me CHANGE!

Of course... magically my fears seemed to resolve around December 1st.

And then we lived happily ever after.

And I thought, "Wow, here comes fall 2010! It's going to be my first happy fall in years!"

Fall 2010: Morning sickness. I can't bear to open my fridge (EVER) and I want to throw up ALL the time. And don't worry, occasionally I did.

Fall 2011:
-Perfect Husband
-Perfect baby
-Not a single breakup/heartbreak/failed test
-Perfect life, because... well I EARNED IT!

But that's not really the reason. The reason is because I am SO blessed. And now that it's December 1st and fall is over... I can't even jinx myself by saying that. :)

The tides have turned. 2011 marked the beginning of a new decade of blissfully happy Autumns. And you know... it was worth a decade of silly dramas and morning sickness to have what I have now. Here's to a perfect fall, and a happy winter too!

PS To any of you who lived through any or all of these falls with me, I'd like to personally thank you for putting up with my drama. You are welcome to vote on which year was the worst.... I would start a poll but, let's be honest, that's taking it a little too far.