Dear Readers

I just noticed that more than 2000 people have viewed my profile. That is so strange. I don't think I know 2000 people. It makes me wonder how many people the average person "knows." How many faces do you recognize? To how many can you attach a name?

Basically I started doing this because Heather told me to (we all know that I am compliant and do whatever anyone tells me to do), and because I thought it would be a great way to keep my friends and family informed about our life here in Winnipeg. And I really like that aspect of it... I'm glad that they are able to tune in and find out what we're up to whenever it's convenient.

I also like checking back on old entries when I can't quite remember what happened, and when. For instance, I know Jed's adoption date because I blogged about it. And I like this forum for communicating because it's like a journal without all the complaining.

When I journal, I tend to do the "life sucks," "I'm so depressed," "this happened and it made me mad," stuff. I never want to journal when I'm in a good mood or something made me happy... it's only when I'm feeling crappy that I tend to want to journal. Hence most of them look like big long diatribes against just about everything. I pretty much gave up journalling when I had kids. It was all too exhausting and being sleep deprived for 10 years didn't help. Plus, I hate handwriting. I have horrible penmanship and can't be bothered to try and improve it. When I was in elementary school, it was the only subject in which I was consistently graded only a "B."

Yes, I was one of those girls... always trying to get 100%. I gave that up quite some time ago, though I was surprised this morning when Micah decided to study for a test and said, "I'm going to do pretty good. Like, not 100 or anything but better than usual. If I don't get nervous."

Micah doesn't do well in a pressure situations so tests are a bit of a killer for him. And quite honestly, the real reason is, it's hard for him to be bothered to study more than he does. I'm not sure when Joey studies, as he has had homework about three times this year, but somehow he manages to get high grades. Though he says that he doesn't want to get grades that are too high, as "expectations increase," when you start getting grades that are too close to 100%.

I'm always interested in their philosophies of grade-getting, and since getting really good grades in elementary school didn't seem to put me onto a lifetime of scholarship, I'm just going to let this play itself out and not push them much. I believe in waiting for the internal motivation to kick in. Hopefully this little experiment will not ruin their chances for their future chosen pursuits.

Anyway, I've heard that some of you are consistent readers... Val's mom, Nicole's parents... and I'm sure there are others that I don't know about. I don't mind you reading, I don't mind that you don't comment. Honest. I'm flattered that you care to read about the minutiae of our lives. If I ever meet you in person, however, I'd love to know if you read me so that I don't have to re-tell all the same stories.

One last thought, that actually surprises me quite a bit, is that I have gotten to know some people on line that seem interesting and normal and most of all real. I was really hesitant to branch out to other blogs and places where I didn't know the people as real human beings first. I figured that just about anybody besides the people I already knew were most likely really hairy large adult men sitting around in their underwear, pretending to be attractive 30-somethings, male or female, and living in their elderly parents' basement.

But I don't think that's true anymore. I'm still pretty careful, but there are some interesting people out there, who are funny and thoughtful and friendly. I'd even like to visit some of them in real life some day, though I'll want to know that they are fully dressed before I arrive.