Porthole

Looking Back at the Teens. 2010-2019.

30DBC: Welcome to 2020! As we start a new decade, take the time in your entry today to look back on the previous decade (2010-2019). Write about some of the major milestones from the past ten years. When you look back on your life over the past decade, what events stand out as most noteworthy and significant?

The Naughties were far more significant. So much turmoil. By 2010, much of that had calmed down.

I really needed less drama.

1. I'm still living in the same place. 2 rooms in an old hotel in Montana. This is significant because it has provided stability. My rent has barely gone up. I can afford to live here until they kick us all out to make fancy apartments. I'm dreading that day. There's nowhere cheap to go in this town. Not having to worry about where I am living is a tremendous relief.

2. I kept on writing. My Journal, Travel notes, short Fiction, Poetry, Blogging.... Significant because it helped kept me sane and meant that when people got nosy, as they often do, and asked what I do for a living I could truthfully answer, "I write." Old, decrepit, poor, living on the dole... no one wanted to hear that. People put down those who can't make a million by stepping on others.

3. I lived in Costa Rica in 2011-2012 for most of a year and revisited 20+ times. That was important because the first time in college was traumatizing. It allowed me to work through that. Traumas from the Naughties and before have faded somewhat. I have fewer nightmares.

4. England: 2011, best vacation I've ever had in my life. Norway/Sweden 2012, finally! Around the world in 2015. I had only been to Costa Rica, Peru (and lived in Canada) and a couple days in Panama before 2009. Now? 43 countries: Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Japan, Australia, South Africa, U.A.E, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Nicaragua, Taiwan, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania, Makedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, Mexico, Croatia, Bosnia. I got to Hawai''i so I've now been through 44 states. I've taken thousands of photographs.

5. Getting older. DVT (deep vein thrombosis) isn't fun. My heart and lungs aren't what they use to be. These 42 steps can be difficult. Don't ask about my teeth or my hair. I mention this because it IS noteworthy. I just try not to wear myself out. Say a prayer for me these next tow trips. I may need them.

My flash fiction for the "New Year": "Hyacinths (164 words)" 

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