It's hard to believe that 2010 is right around the corner

When I say it out loud, it just can't be.

The year will soon be two-thousand ten.

What ever happened to 1999?

I can vividly remember the summer of '83. That's when Prince's pop tune "1999" came out on the radio.

You know "Say, say 2000 zero, zero party over, oops, out of time. So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999." I remember that song like yesterday.

But, as an 11-year-old, I thought it would never be 1999. By that time, I'd be like really old and stuff. Now, it's 10 years after the fact.

A look back at the year 1999 in the life of Timberly:

* My son Jazz was born. (I still can't believe my baby is now 10 years old.)

* I was a rural mail carrying sub on rural route two Shelburn. It was 80-some miles of rough and tumble back roads. Ahhh the good old days ...

* We lived in house number one of three for the Ferree-Puckett family. I still count some of my former neighbors (one family in particular) as great friends!

* I drove the mail car to work and everywhere else. What a sight! At one point, the door wouldn't open on the passenger side. I jumped in and out of the window ... it was "Dukes of Hazzard" time.

* Deep down my thoughts were absorbed in returning to school. I really, really wanted that degree. I would daydream about it while on the mail route.

* We broke in the new year '2000' at home with the kids half afraid and half in disbelief. (Y2K -- enough said.)

I guess 1999 wasn't much of a party after all.

May the dreams of your past be the reality of your future ...