Twinskin, writing and traditions, oh my!

Girls,

Around the Internets, these things called Memes circulate. Pronounce them Meem. They are harmless attempts to get to know people better. I've been tagged once and only once by fellow blogger Hip Writer Mama.

The rules of this meme is to "share four things that were new to you in the past four years. Four things you learned or experienced or explored for the first time in the past four years. New house, new school, new hobby, new spouse, new baby, whatever. Then you have to say four things you want to try new in the next four years."

This should be easy for me since four is a pretty interesting number for me right now.

What was new to me in the last four years?

1. Marriage. I had a couple of relationships before Da! but as I look back on all of them, none had any substance like my relationship with him. Four years ago, we became a married couple and that is land I hadn't traveled before. I've loved every step along the way, too. Even the tough moments. It still amazes me that after five years of being together so much -- we started off working together -- I am still eager to see him at the end of the day and hardly want to leave his side.

2. Obviously, being a mother is new to me. So new, in fact, that I still catch myself trying to put motherhood in some nice square box that holds everything that matters in a tidy manner. What's most new about motherhood, to me, is that I've realized it's Crazy Bliss in a cry-one-second, and laugh-the-next kind of way.

3. Twinskin is new to me, too. TMI, I know. I can't believe that I actually thought my body was awful -- dreadful -- in high school. I recently looked back at some photos. Sheesh. I was stupid. I lost a bunch of weight before our wedding and had only regained five pounds before getting preggo with J and L and still hated my body. Now, I am pre-wedding weight/size and I have a nice mass of extra skin that has no place to go, but hang. I've read that the only way to get rid of that skin is surgery. No, thank you. Still, I'm more confident about myself now than I was in those younger years -- sagging skin and stretch marks and all. My girls don't care. A belly's a belly -- their all fun to look at and bang on.

4. The feeling of isolation is also new to me. I used to feel alone, before I met Da! but never did I feel as alone as I do now. I'm not sure if it's being a mother or being a stay-at-home mom or both, but days go by and the only conversations I've had involve sentences like, "Don't throw your food on the floor" or "Are you poopy?" This isn't entirely true since I've done at least one or two phone interviews each day for months, but those sources for freelance articles couldn't care less about my opinions about American Idol or my personal review of "How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My life," by Mameve Medwed. (I will be reviewing this soon. Promise)

Now, four things I hope to do in the next four years. This will be hard. I'm a goal-setter, list-maker, high-achiever type. Nary a day goes by that I haven't dreamt up something new to do, a place to move, a business to build, a population to save. But, I'll do my best to limit to just four.

1. Professionally, I hope to have published my novel as well as a second. End of story. It just has to get done.

2. Also professionally, I hope to break into writing for magazines. Newspapers are getting old -- yellowish, brown old and I'm tired of the ink-stains. Change is good.

3. I hope we find the perfect house, in the perfect town to settle down for once. I want to feel at home, like it's the place I'll end up, even if it's not. I don't feel that way in our house or our town. There are many reasons why that is the case, none of which would fit into this tiny space. I'm also seeking to end the "anywhere but here" syndrome that has plagued me for so long.

4. Finally, I hope to have created a special family tradition for each month of the year that will give my family, especially our girls, something to look back on and cherish, not because they were special holidays, but because of simply being with family. Just plain being. Just plain family. (I plan to post about our unique family traditions, too.)

Now, I'm supposed to tag others to do this same meme ... and so without being a burden I'll invite any of you to participate and share as well. I'll also tap Momma Bean, MammaBlogga and Jennifer at Toddler Tactics.