Summary of Twenty Ten

Hello Everyone!

Happy (belated) Holidays!

We hope that you all had a very merry Christmas and a memorable New Year celebration. Thank you so much to those of you who reached out and gave us warm wishes. We had so much going on that we never had the chance to get in touch with you and tell you how much you are thought about and loved. We are truly blessed to have each and every one of you in our lives.

How about a recap of the year? We thought 2009 was tough. 2010 will go down in our personal history as one of the most challenging yet.

Simply put (and without causing a jinx), 2010 was one of the

most difficult and stressful years of our lives. With everything we went through, knowing we came out of it stronger and happier, gives us hope that we could make it through just about anything in this lifetime. It is difficult to describe the trials and tribulations in our day to day lives. It is eye opening how life can do something to you to change your very being, how we came out of it feeling as though we are no longer the same people we once were. It's difficult to put into words … and yet somehow, it feels as though you all know – you’ve been there, and that, I’m sure, is the reason that we kept hope. We are so grateful for all of the support and advice that you've all given to us.

Way back one year ago, Jeff and I both worked for Charles River Laboratories and life was good. Yes, with every job there are LOADS of complaints but the fact that we both had the same Tues – Sat. schedule, were commuting together, knew all the same people, (had similar frustrations) knew the same rules, ate lunch together, could vent together …we were in a pretty good situation. Unfortunately, the only constant in life is change.

This is one of the only pictures we have of CRL Shrewsbury (they were very strict with taking pictures). CRL is the building behind our SUV.

In January 2010 CRL announced that they were going to shut down our facility. What a way to start the year. We can confidently say that losing this job was a shock for both of us. Who knows how long we would have stayed? Lifers? There were just as many cons as there were pros to being there. I could probably write an entire novel about all the challenges and emotions that we had to face but that isn’t what 2010 is going to be remembered for (strictly speaking). Life goes on and when life gives us lemons …we adopt doggies. *grin*

March 27th (the very same day as our 6th year anniversary) Jeff and I brought home two very special beagles. Eba and Lia were “spare” dogs that were not used on study at CRL. These girls had a confined life and we had the chance to open up a new world for them. Some people thought we were crazy, but most people thought the world of us for bringing home two. Eba and Lia sure do keep us on our toes and make us crazy, but have given us a unique unconditional love and bond that we can't imagine living without.

By this time, Jeff and I both knew that we would be staying at CRL for a little longer than we originally thought - they extended a number of people to close out the studies and end work at the facility. This was both a curse and a blessing. The longer we were there the worse it got (deservedly so in some case - mass layoffs are painful). It was not the type of environment either of us would consider healthy. I got panicky and needed to get out. Jeff was able to stick it out to the end with a bonus as compensation. I started looking around for a job in April and went through a few interviews before I was offered a position with a software company. Yes, it was a quality assurance role and I was looking forward to something completely different.

I started working for Phase Forward in June, which was the same month Jeff had his last day at CRL. My commute was significantly longer so you can imagine the daily schedule changes that we had to go through (this caused us headaches with the dogs & potty training because our schedules kept changing almost every month). In the meantime Jeff took care of us and was able to keep himself occupied with house projects.

It really was driving us crazy not knowing what was going to happen. Would we keep our house, enjoy our lifestlye, remain financially secure? Luckily it was starting to warm up outside, and we both had plenty of outdoor projects we were itching to start. We got the chickens outdoors again (they stay in the garage over the winter), the doggies loved running / sniffing / exploring outside, the yard work, brush burning, garden tending, flower pruning …we were glad to have things to keep us busy.

The summer went fast – really fast. It was a good year for the garden and we had more food than we knew what to do with. We also added two chickens to our flock of four so that Clover would have plymoth rock partners (birds of a feather...) Basil and Parsley fit right in. We ended up giving Parsley the nickname "Road Runner" on account of her being nearly impossible to catch when we try to herd them back into the coop.

All of this change set us up for a “time out”. So we took a little weekend vacation to Greenfield MA. It was just the little get-a-way we needed. (The doggies got a little vacation at the Fox Run Kennel – if you saw it, you’d want to vacation there too . . . trust me! ) Not long after that we made a trip to PA to see family. It really was just what we needed.

Once we got back and jumped back into our lives, Jeff didn’t waste a minute with the job search. He accepted a position at UMass in September as an Animal Care Technician. His commute was about the same distance as CRL. This led to yet another schedule shift in our daily routine, but one we were very thankful to have.

Pretty soon it was Halloween. We got together with friends and family - went to a harvest festival and did a mini Thanksgiving (just us).

The last time we went home, Jeff's Uncle George and Suzie suggested we consider hosting Christmas in Massachusetts. By this time, the thought was well planted and taking shape. There was so much to get ready for Christmas. What a nice change it was for Jeff and I to finally have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off together - that never happened at CRL! What a difference it made to have family spend Christmas with us to get us all full of Christmas spirit. We had a wonderful time with Jeff’s mother, sister and brother. Eba and Lia were so spoiled but so very well behaved! I wish you could know them like we do and see how much they've improved.

So here it is twenty eleven and wow – how our life has changed in just one short year! As scary and uncertain as things have been, we can say that we've grown and put ourselves in a better position than before.