Disappointments Since July

2007 was the best year of my life. In January we were in six European countries (I'm cheating by counting a drive-through of Monte Carlo) and that was still one of the less memorable months of the year. We moved to Orillia and bought this fantastic old house. The twins arrived, changing everything for the better. And I've had the chance to stay home with them, experiencing every moment of their quickly changing little beings. As a result, this blog has been an upbeat chronicle of a very happy time. So, for a little balance, here are some things that haven't turned out quite as I had hoped.

I thought I would have:

• Read more books. I was probably reading a dozen books a month through the first half of 2007. I've barely gotten through a handful since then but I'm hoping I've turned the corner. We've started reading aloud Nick Hornby's latest, Slam, and I'm reading Alberto Manguel's Massey Lectures on storytelling and hoping it provides me with some inspiration.
• Had more quality time with Kate. We are consumed with the kids, which is the most fantastic experience of all time, but it does mean we don't have as much time for hanging out and talking and doing other stuff.
• Run more. Not a single run since August. It's a good thing I'm breastfeeding twins - oops, that's Kate's fallback. There's a treadmill right behind me in this room and it hasn't been plugged in since we moved here. I am a horrible sloth.
• More e-mails and phone calls to friends. This blog is kind of my out-clause as it provides regular updates on my life but it's not much more personal than one of those year-in-review Christmas letters, so I have to do better.
• And in addition, I haven't:
• written word one of my Great American Novel (it's percolating though)
  
• studied any Mandarin (or Spanish or German for that matter)
  
• learned to swim (I can swim, but I can't, you know, really swim)
• taught the children to sign (can I admit publicly that I think this is actually a complete crock?)
• learned a musical instrument (all right, we're really low down on the list now - I really had no expectations of achieving this stuff)