When my name was called, I walked down the makeshift aisle in the Kibbie Dome’s football stadium turned ceremonial meeting place in my black gown to receive my college diploma. For years to come, I would have dreams that I had signed up for a class that I forgot to attend and wake up thinking it had never really happened…I hadn’t really graduated. The fact that in three days I could not dig up a photo proving it did take place made me start to wonder again. But it is true, on this day, almost exactly ten years ago, I graduated from the University of Idaho with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics.
I bet if you would have asked my twenty-two year old self what I would be doing in ten years, I probably wouldn’t have said, “trying to figure out how to get a teething, nearly eight month old daughter to take a nap.” I am pretty sure that is not what I would have predicted.
With the passing of this anniversary, I have thought a lot about how I have spent the last ten year of my life. I have had a lot of fun and also accomplished a lot. I am a goal-driven person so the latter is as important to me as the former. Here is a brief recap of the past ten years since I threw my black mortar board with orange tassel up in the air.
Andy and I when Andy was still living in Driggs
At graduation time, Andy and I were dating. He was living in a small town in eastern Idaho (Driggs) working for a small software company. We both started applying for jobs in the northwest, Seattle, Portland and Boise and eventually settled on Boise with respective job offers in hand.
After moving to Boise, almost immediately I made a mistake which I would repeat many times and made too much change at one time. I graduated, moved to Boise, started a new job at HP as a firmware engineer, moved to the same city as my boyfriend, rented an apartment and adopted the first pet of my own. This all happened literally within one month. I recall not being able to stop clenching my jaw because of all of the stress from so much change.
I already eluded to the fact I found a dog that needed a home in the paper at which time I gained a companion in Sassy. In an attempt to make her subject to my will, I took her through Scotch Pines Obedience School.
Sassy's graduation from Scotch Pines
In 2000, I bought and remodeled a house built in 1910 that I believed had a lot of “potential.” My boyfriend turned fiancé turned husband, Andy, helped me/did much of the remodel as did a friend of the family . We restored much of the house including tearing out and rebuilding the kitchen and bathroom, putting in a new backyard, fence, dog run, sewer line, water main, heater, entry room tile floor, etc. It was a massive project that I joke was to test Andy to see how badly he really wanted to marry me.
I sort of jumped over one of the most momentous days of my life. On March 31, 2001, I married Andrew Carl Hoobing at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in Boise, Idaho. It was a wonderful, blur of a day of which my strongest memories including saying, “I do”, being scared to death that I was going to trip walking down the aisle and Andy doing the caterpillar on the dance floor.
In 2002, Andy and I were crazy exercise machines. We did marathons, triathlons, half Ironmans, duathlons, and many other races. I remember coming home from long bike rides ravenous willing to eat the non-existent carpet off the floor. In the past ten years, I have completed seven marathons, two half Ironmans and countless other half marathons, shorter running races, duathlons and sprint and Olympic-distance triathlons.
Sage and I after the Seattle Marathon in November 2000
In our kitchen in Mexico
We mostly gave up the crazy race schedule to move to Mexico for the duration of 2003. It was an incredible year of cultural experiences, wonderful food and travel including fifteen trips to the beach (Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Cancun, etc.) We also ventured inland to Mexico City (I was scared shitless!) and to Leon and Guanajuato.
When we returned from Mexico I dove into an MBA program which took me heads down for nearly two years. We stayed pretty close to home during this time except for a trip to New York to run the marathon, a wonderful trip to Austria/Italy/Germany, a foggy trip to Napa Valley and our yearly trips to Las Vegas.
In 2005, I managed to fit in a month-long exchange program to Buenos Aires, Argentina with Rotary International and a trip to Bangalore, India for work.
Hanging with the gauchos on La Pampa
Near the conclusion of my MBA, Andy received a work assignment in Shanghai, China, were we moved to in October of 2006.
On our preview trip in Shanghai, China
During our time in China, we once again found ourselves immersed in a new culture and language. We also took the opportunity to travel to as many places as we could while on that side of the globe and ventured to an array of cities in China, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Maldives, Dubai, Cambodia, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, Thailand and Macau.
At Angkor Watt temple in Cambodia
I returned from China in May of 2008 to start a new job as a Project Manager. Three months later, I found myself pregnant.
Newborn Belén
Belén Rose was delivered by c-section on April 28th of this year. The past nearly eight months of her life have been heavily documented so I won’t go much more into that.
Besides those big life events, a bunch of other things happened including countless parties, dinners, work, camping trips, river trips and most importantly adventures. Three such adventures that stand out in my mind is our climb to the top of Mount Borah, the tallest mountain in Idaho, our week sailing around the islands near Phuket, Thailand and the trek to Fiji for my sister’s wedding.
Group Photo at the Summit of Mt. Borah
On the dinghy in the Andaman Sea
I am thrilled to report that the last ten years have been incredible! I wouldn’t change anything about them! I only hope that the next ten will be as good!
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Wow! What a fabulous adventure you’ve been on! Your baby is so beautiful!
I had a lot of fun reading this.
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