[Pura Vida]

Overall, it was a good decade for me, aside from some ongoing health issues. I have been fortunate to travel the world: Hawaii, Singapore, Thailand, Ireland, Tahiti / Moorea / Bora Bora, Mexico, Costa Rica, and various places within the U.S. Our kids traveled many of these places with us, and I have enjoyed watching my kids develop from toddlers to teen and tween, respectively.

Physically, the decade began with two major surgeries (throat 2010, knee 2011). The knee recovery has been problematic and caused more health issues this decade, resulting in a third major surgery in 2017. Financially, it was a prosperous decade, driven by a healthy stock market and a string of real estate ventures, both here and in Costa Rica. These were all game-changers, which may enable us to retire early, so I can focus more on my health and family. I wish for better work/life balance and improved health in the 2020s.

Avoiding the taboo topics of this forum, I do have concerns for the environmental, societal, and political direction we've taken during this decade. Others already made some insightful observations about social media's impact on how we interact, and I hope we can find some balance there, as well. And I hope we can find the civility that's been lost within our culture and leave things better for our kids and grandkids than we're presently doing.

Finally, musically, I had taken 10 years off from playing guitar (2005-2015), so the last half of the decade has been fantastic to immerse myself into understanding and appreciating acoustic guitars. I spent the first half doing the same with the wine industry, and the parallels are surprisingly many. Both are a wonderful and diverse result of mixing art with science.