Defining moments of 2009

I know I am a few days late for this post, but I've been trying for that long to figure what I wanted to say. What were the best moments of 2009 (thankfully there were many)? What were the worst moments of 2009 (thankfully there were few)?

I finally decided that there really were two defining moments of the past year -- events that literally changed my year and altered my history.

Unbelievably, they happened on the same day.

It was a Sunday in late February. Strangely I do not remember the exact date. I could figure it out if I did a little searching through last year's calendar, but I don't think the exact date really matters.

Defining moment #1:
As I said it was a Sunday. It was just after midnight, so it was VERY early on that Sunday. B and I had just arrived home with Big A from a JBQ Tournament in St. Louis. It had been a very long trip, as the weather was treacherous and a bad accident had shut down the highway for hours. We were exhausted. Still, we flipped through the mail to see what had come in over the few days we were gone.

And there it was. A package from the county. We knew it would contain an offer for them to buy out the flood property that had plagued us for almost a year. We were all nervous as we opened it, because the number they offered would mean everything to us. Would it be enough to pay off the mortgage? Would it be enough to make it worthwhile to sell the property, or would we have to rebuild? Would the contents of that package signal an end to our nightmare?

The answer was incredible. The amount was more than we hoped and prayed for. Enough to pay off the mortgage and good chunk of the rest of our debt ... and still more for a down payment on a new house. The county had been more than fair, offering us fair-market PRE-flood value. The value before the housing market tanked. The deal would also allow us to keep our insurance money, which had been another unknown piece of the puzzle.

Even though it would be a few months before the deal was done and we had the money in hand, that was definitely THE defining moment of the year. We were able to stop living in the unknown and start making actual decisions about our future. Our financial issues were solved at that point. It was our proof that even terrible stories have happy endings.

So we had our moment and then we went to bed. And later than morning, we woke up and soon faced what would be ...

Defining Moment #2
Later that morning I took a home pregnancy test. Even though I was on the pill, I had reason to suspect I might be pregnant. B and I had discussed the possibility for a day or two. I decided it was time to find out.

It was positive. For a few minutes I was upset. This hadn't been in the plans at all. B wasn't upset; he was only excited. It took a few minutes for me to catch up, but I did. It doesn't take a mother very long to fall in love with her baby.

That was a defining moment because it changed our view of the make-up of our family. I realized I had room in my heart for another child. We realized that something we thought we didn't want was actually something we wanted very much.

That moment changed me instantly forever. And it set me up for the greatest sadness so far of my life: miscarrying at 11 weeks and having a D&C. Until that point, I didn't know I could be so sad. Upset? Yes, I knew upset. Stress? Yes, I knew stress. Anger? Yes, I knew anger. But I didn't really know sadness until this happened to me.

These are the two moments that defined my 2009. Now it's onward and upward to 2010.