A Burst of Blogging

I dunno if I'll be tethered to the digital world, at all, for the next 14 days, so I'm having a sudden burst of blogging energy. An interesting meme traveled the kidlit world a couple weeks ago. I've never been "tagged" for a meme, but my understanding of the biological metaphor (DNA, heredity, and genes) leads me to question the practice of tagging. A meme either catches, and gets passed along, cuz it has some kinda "cool-to-blog-on-fitness", or it becomes extinct. Maybe that's just sour grapes cuz I've never been tagged. Nah, I really believe in the organic nature of idea sharing on the web.

Anyhow: Here's the meme. First, write four things that were new to you in the past four years, and then write four things that will be new parts of your life in the upcoming four years.

New things in the last four years:

• I became a mother when we adopted three lovely children.
  
• We bought our first house (and still like it so much it that I can't imagine moving).
• I finished my formal schooling with a Master's of Education degree.
• I've become happily certain that teaching is my life's work.

New things in the next four years:

• We'll have one baby (this is NOT an announcement), just a hope and a plan, for now.
  
• I'll become a better writer and a much better writing teacher.
• My relationships with my daughters will continue to deepen; and I'll find a way to break through Aninga's concrete shell.
  
• I'll find several new, delicious meals to cook regularly.

Coming up with a fourth new thing that will happen in the next four years was hard. I don't like being overly ambitious. I prefer to be realistic. Teaching sixth grade will be new, but not that different from what I've been doing for several years.