Happy Belated Blog Birthday

This blog is a year old now.

I missed the birthday....which is kind of amusing, as I had planned to put up a "birthday of the blog" post. I think that after I celebrated the Human Birthdays here in September, I was out of energy for that type of remembrance. So the blog lost out.

I did not admit it when I started this, but I began this project in a moment of panic. We were beginning a school year, my kids were all starting new projects and programs. There were a few other demands on the schedule. The thing I felt despirate for was mental stimulation and quiet moments alone.

I wanted to start something new to clear my head and breath some new life into what, some days, felt like a monotonous and overwhelming routine. I did not want to stop doing what I should be doing, which is looking after my family, but I needed a way to do it better, with new energy and in a way that looked inspirational rather than glumly dutiful.

And it has turned out that this project was actually just the right thing to add to my life for a little flavor-booster-jet-propelled-invigorator.

I am so thankful for this year of running and reading. It has forced me to read and run so many many days and nights when sleep or a movie would have been my preference.

In fact, it has effected all my family to an extent, as we are all reading more than we used to. We have even opted to forego purchasing the conversion box for our old TV, and just read instead. Fabulous!

Running together, my kids and I, is kind of a different story, but we'll work on that one next year.

I have to say that since I attained the level of running an hour 4 times a week, I have felt like Wonder Woman. I feel about ten years younger now than I did twelve months ago. And I will, AGAIN, when I shake of this business of being sick.

I have had a great deal to say about how much my life gets in the way of running and reading. I know I have whined about it far too much. But I am thankful for the challenge. And once I get these books finished, I will make up another list of 100 and start all over again.

The biggest challenge of all has turned out to be keeping up with this blog.

Sometimes I have felt pressures of life kudzu over me, and have not much wanted to share them with everyone, and chose instead to keep our privacy intact rather than toss everything onto the blog.

And it has been a very full year with a few events which have caused us to have to bow our heads and march forward into what felt like a hard wind, just hunkering down to get through. One of these was my husband's diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. At the time, it seemed so large, such a great unknown. But through this I have seen what a remarkable man he is, as he has never complained, never used it as an excuse. I miss having him as my running partner, but I am more thankful than ever that he is my partner in everything else.

Anyway, not all of life is good blogging material. It's a tricky balance, blogging and attending to seven sensitive human beings and maintaining their privacy....

There have been some surprisingly sweet friendships which have grown up a bit because of this blog, and for those I am very thankful. Anything that hooks me up better with friends is a blessing for which I am hugely thankful.

And, to balance it all out, I have had some surprising criticism from people over my book choices. One woman chided me because my book list is not spiritual enough, another person described my list as "xenophobic" and someone else told that I appear to be trying to impress everyone with how erudite I am. There have been far more kind remarks than rude ones, but these three that I mentioned have stuck in my mind. ( Isn't it true that we always remember the unkind things more than the kind ones.)

And from time to time I ponder my lack of spirituality, cultural intolerance, and arrogance and then I shake it off.

I mean, it's just a book list, it's not like I'm recommending these titles for anyone else.

Those are just some random thoughts on this year, and the upshot is that I am happy to have taken on this challenge, but I have no illusions that I am on top of the project or guaranteed to be successful.

So, I'm thinking about how I will set up my goals for next year.

That will be a later post, I think.