[Gayle]

This has been the 'family' decade. We got married in 1998 and had Maddie at the back end of 1999, so this has been the decade when I stopped being a single girl, with business ambitions but became a wife, mum and someone who wanted to work in the community I live in.

It's also been the decade when I discovered the joys and pain of being physically attached to my mobile phone and my laptop - it would take an operation to remove them.

But, it also became the decade when I reconnected with friends, neighbours, people from the area and became more aware of details and things going on around me. I stop to smell the roses more often.