my decade

i entered a writing contest today with instructions to describe "the most memorable thing that has happened to you in the last 10 years," using no more than 175 words.  my entry is below.  (limiting it to 175 words was tough!  my original draft was over twice that much and i had to cut it down.  hopefully the overall feel still comes through).

Choosing the most memorable event from the past ten years is not an easy feat.  Sure, some stick out more than others: deciding to quit pharmacy school (and telling my parents), my cousin Diana’s funeral (witnessing Dad cry for the second time ever), our wedding day (so cliché), or that fateful call from my mother (it was cancer).  So can I really pick one?  My memories are strung together, connected and linked; where one goes, another follows.

If I had to pick one worthy of the title, Most Memorable of the Decade, it would be my 30th birthday.  Intensely dreading it, I agreed to a quiet girls’ lunch, never guessing a surprise party was waiting at home.  The moment came once the shock wore off.  There was reason to celebrate.  I’d finished school on my own terms, found the job, the husband, the house.  I thought of Diana, who had never had that chance.  And I hugged my mom extra hard, still there, still fighting.

When you pull one out, the others come with it.