A lot of things can happen in five years

Mandy and I were 37 and 35 when we first became parents. I think that makes us old to become first-time mom and dad. It definitely has downsides, but also a major upside, I think.

 We've met each other five years earlier. Since then, every year has been full of major developments. In the first year, we started living together after only a handful of weeks of dating. In the second year, we traveled to Sicily in our makeshift camper van, where we lived and worked for eight months. In these eight months, we shared a tiny house. It was so tiny that we had to eat outside or on our bed.

In the third year, we went back to Sicily for a month to search for a house. Long story short, we almost bought a house, but the house that we wanted was sold just one day earlier. After Sicily, we also went on a two-month trip to Thailand, where Mandy met my Thai family for the first time. It was also the year when we first started a business and rented a 90m2 workspace. All while living in my childhood bedroom.

In our fourth year, Thais Tafelen, our main business, took off. We moved our workspace to a 130m2 space. We also moved out of my parents' house to an iconic apartment from 1870 in Sneek. In our fifth year, we grew even more with Thais Tafelen. We got engaged, and of course, Mandy got pregnant.

Now, we are almost ready for the sixth year. Which will be huge again. In January 2027, we will move our workspace to a 320m2 so that we can grow Thais Tafelen even further. But even more exciting is that we will also move our home. For the first time, I will be a homeowner. To be exact, starting tomorrow, I will be a homeowner.

We will move from our 45m2 rented apartment to a 189m2 house with a 100m2 garden. If you had told me at the start of this year that we could buy a house, we would have laughed at you. But somehow, we've managed to seal the deal.

A lot of things can happen in five years. With the upcoming upgrades to the house and workspace, we can steadily build a nice future together. But somehow, my gut feeling says that the next five years will also be full of nice surprises. I'm ready for it.