I would like all my readers (yes, even the lurkers!) to copy the list below into a response to this post and replace my answers with your own. Don't worry about formatting, I can fix all that later. By New Years I will re-create this post with everyone's answers included. Please join me in this little exercise of community, it would be really fun if we had a bunch of respondents.
YEAR 2006
1> Best Memories (no particular order)
- My son Kieran learning to walk
- My trip to Singapore
- Surviving the flash flood during the Common Table campout in West Virginia.
- The arrival of our newest family member: Chloe the potbellied pig.
- Our first litter of puppies.
2> A funny thing that happened in 2006
- Realizing that I have the same girth as my Pot Bellied pig, ouch!
- Death of Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter. A charismatic t.v. personality, naturalist, conservationist, and founder/adviser to multiple zoos worldwide. Steve lived life with amazing passion, it wasn't a show for Steve, he simply overflowed with energy and curiosity. Here is a 2nd link that is shows more video of Steven in action.
- How to travel by myself and still enjoy it.
3 comments:
1. Best Memories of 2006
Going home for Thanksgiving for ten days with Kieran.
Getting to see my cousin’s baby the day he was born (Kieran was jealous of mommy holding another baby).
Watching Kieran growing and discovering new things.
Making new friends in Virginia.
2. A Funny Thing that Happened in 2006
Nothing can top Israel saying, at Matt and Kate’s wedding reception, “Wow, I’m really starting to feel my peanuts.” What!?!?! There are SO many possible interpretations of that, none of them good. (He meant “peanuts groove”, the theme song was playing.)
3. A Sad Thing that Happened in 2006
The day Ken brought home our pot bellied pig, Chloe.
Two of our puppies dying.
The passing of baby William Stavlund.
4. Something I Learned in 2006
Grace really does work sometimes, in real life.
1> Best Memories
• Meeting my family in Bangladesh for the first time
• My daughter Salma learning how to walk (had to copy you there, Ken!)
• Visiting Cox’s Bazaar, the longest sea beach in the world
• Some great times teaching students at North South University in Bangladesh
• Watching Salma learn English and Bangla at the same time
2> A funny thing that happened in 2006
• Well, this is more like miraculous: Azfar and I finished teaching at Bowling Green State University on a Friday in May, and the next Tuesday we were on a plane flying to Bangladesh, with 10 suitcases, a baby, and a stroller! It’s amazing we made it there all in one piece. (Much thanks to Ken and Maranda!)
3> A sad thing that happened in 2006
• Well, this is not exactly something that happened only in 2006, but this year is the first time I have ever lived in a third world country. And in Bangladesh I have seen so much poverty and suffering every day. There are so many beggars on the street, many of them with missing limbs, shriveled limbs, extremely crippled, and of course, many of them are children who are literally starving to death. In a world with so many resources, this makes me so very sad.
4> Something important that I learned in 2006
• I have learned at least functional Bangla by now, so that I can travel in a rickshaw or a taxicab on my own, and I can order food, and find the bathroom, and other many important things! (Of course, I cannot hold a conversation about philosophy…that will take a while.)
1> Best Memories:
Watching Levi learn to eat.
When Schuyler and Mike finally installed Will's carseat because he was going home. It symbolized how he'd beaten the odds.
2> A funny thing that happened in 2006:
Levi said lots of funny things this year. Most recently, he said "Mommy, take a shower, cut your fingernails, and put on makeup!"
3> A sad thing that happened in 2006:
Will died.
I had a miscarriage.
My stepmother died.
4> Something important that I learned in 2006:
I learned more about how broken the world is. I learned how to say "Kingdom come" and really mean it.
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