10 years: Happy & Successful.

2004 was a pretty big year for me.  I met my husband, graduated high school & started college.  I can't even count the number of times I was asked where I wanted to be in 10 years, what I wanted to do with my life, or something of that sort.

I made up answers.  Every time I was asked I would give a slightly different answer.  Truthfully, I had no idea.  I highly admire the high schoolers that know what they want in life.  All I knew was that I wanted to be happy & successful, but I was too afraid to admit it.  I mean, c'mon, what successful person doesn't know what they want to do?  Part of being successful is beginning with the end in mind-- knowing where you want to go!

Looking back, I've met my goals.  I'm happy, and I like to think that I've had a successful 10 years.  Successful by my standards, anyway, and that's what counts here.

I've come much further than I thought.  I never planned to leave my hometown.  Move 30 minutes away?  No way!  So to live 8 hours away is quite comical to me.  Leaving there certainly didn't make me successful, but it became an important part of my story.

Never, ever in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I'd still have the same car!  8 years ago I started saving up to replace it when it broke down.  If that savings hadn't been robbed so much over the years then I'd be buying a pretty sweet car right now!

I also never thought that being debt free would be a big part of my story.  10 years ago I didn't have any debt.  It hadn't even crossed my mind.

I thought I would use math more.  I wish I used math more.

I hoped to be married & have a family by now.  I didn't have a plan for number of kids at this point in the game, but to have at least started having kids.  I always saw myself as a family person.  Check.

I assumed I'd have bought a house at this point.  What a silly assumption!  Houses are expensive!  But sure enough, I did end up buying a house mortgage before those 10 years were up.

I kind of thought I'd be working in an office setting, dressing professionally, and not owning my own business.  In fact, I decided at a young age that I never wanted to own a business.  I saw how hard my dad worked & just didn't want to go through all that.  I'm a lot more like my dad than I ever imagined I'd be.  And my husband is a lot more like my dad than I ever imagined he'd be.

If someone walked up to me in 2004 and told me I'd be a wedding photographer in 2014 I would have had a good laugh.  I would have thought it was awesome, but also something completely unattainable.  Seriously-- that is a ton of expensive equipment to buy, and a lot of skill to invest in.  Then again, I probably would have laughed at that even 5 years ago as I tried to figure out what PSAM meant on my camera.  ;)

Happy & successful.  So what if I'm not a lawyer or a figure skater... I'm right where I want to be.

What did you want to be?  How has life adjusted your dreams?