Friends! Where were you doing this time ten years ago? Were you hunkered in a bunker, ferreting away bottled water? Having a fifth grade sleep over with your besties? Drinking champagne on a balcony?

When 1999 ticked over to 2000, I was a junior in college. I think I was still perming my hair (for a long time I was convinced that I had “a curly haired personality”) and had a nose ring. I had not yet been entirely consumed by the travel bug, though I remember chewing over the idea of teaching abroad. I was midway through a five-year romance with a lovely guy who just wasn’t right for me.

December 31st actually found me and my extended family in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, skiing joyfully (and very badly) with my cousins. There were sleigh rides and hot air balloons with champagne and many restaurants. I remember being super annoyed at myself for forgetting my cosmetic bag in Minnesota and thus appearing in every picture from the trip with glasses and no make up.

On New Years Eve, I passed out with ski-related exhaustion and was woken up by my 11 year old cousin announcing that it was nearly midnight and we were all going to watch fireworks explode over the mountains.

And I was absolutely not having it.

I was 100% committed to remaining in bed and sleeping through the millennium.

Thankfully, I was dragged out of bed and marched grumpily up the mountain to witness the dawn of 2000 surrounded by fireworks and family and lots of strangers in snowsuits.

What were you doing this time, ten years ago?