Monday, April 11, 2011

How things change between drivers licenses.....

I renewed my drivers license today. It's been 5 years since I've had to renew it and as I was furiously straightening my hair and trying to get my fringe to stay put, I started thinking about where I was 5 years ago. 5 years doesnt really seem that long, does it? Certainly, the older I get, the shorter it seems. But so much has happened in the last 5 years that it seems like a lifetime ago to me. So here's where I was 5 years ago: 5 years ago, I was 24 years old. I was in my last year of University (finally!) and working part time in a banking call centre, where I'd been working for 2 years already. I made some lovely friends there, and some I havent kept (including the ex-friend I mentioned in my last post). I was living in a sharehouse in Newcastle, where I'd been living for a year already. I had made some beautiful friends while living there, most of which I have managed to keep! By this time, there were 4 girls in the house....me, my good friend Manda, Miss Kristen, and a 4th...previously, the beautiful Miss Beth had lived with us but when she moved out we had a few girls through to replace her....none of them stayed long though and they havent stuck in my head either! Regardless, Miss Beth was often at our place visiting, staying to party, or coming back to sleep after partying.....a regular little party animal, she hasnt changed! I owned my own car, a little green Ford Festiva, which got me from A to B to C whenever I needed it to. It had no air con, no power steering and no central locking, but I had replaced the tape player with a CD player and it was the best thing I ever did! I had a long-time boyfriend, who I refused to give up on (in our relationship and in life in general.). We'd lived together for a bit but that didn't work so good, so I found a sharehouse to live in and he would stay there with me about 50% of the time ( I think....). We'd been together since the end of high school, and I couldn't imagine being with anyone else. I spent my weekends trying to do uni work, occaisionally going out with my housemates or with my uni friends, seeing family and seeing long-time boyfriend, if he wanted to. Some mornings, I would meet up with my lovely friend C and we would go for a walk into town and back. We were both doing jobs with late starts so meeting at 8 worked well....although I think this may have been the year before as my schedule got a bit crazy in the last year of uni! Either way, it was a good way to get some exercise and I feel like we built our friendship during those walks :-) Funnily enough, I was blonde for my last license photo and I'm blonde again now, but I've been every shade from blonde to almost black over the past 5 years! I had no idea what I was going to do when I finished uni - I was having trouble focusing on anything other than getting through my thesis, and NEVER having to study again. Now, 5 years later a LOT has changed. I'm 29 now, I live in the Big City and have done for 4 years! I live in a 2 bedroom unit with my not-so-long-time Englishman boyfriend (though I'm pretty sure it will become long-time eventually). I don't own a car (the Englishman does though!) and I catch public transport most places. I havent gone back to uni and I dont intend to EVER. I have a job that is my career and know EXACTLY what I want to do with it, which is such a good feeling. I dont go on walks with C anymore but as she also moved to Sydney, and lives close by, we still catch up for coffee/tea, dinner, and cuddles with her adorable baby C. I even babysat for them the other day! I guess looking back, I can't say there are any things that have changed that I regret. I love my life! I live in an amazing (although expensive) city, I have a comfortable place to live that is mine to share with just one other person, and that other person is the best man I could ask to share Life with. I love my job and how its purpose makes it rewarding. I love having old and new friends around and I LOVE not being an Uni! I just wonder what the next 5 years will bring for me.........