Reflections on One Year

Today is my birthday...I am one year closer to forty... (too close if you ask me)
I must say...this has been one of the most interesting birthdays I have had to date!

Yesterday afternoon (4pm EDT) I was skyped a happy birthday message from Jo McLeay from Australia (where it was already my bday) and by 8:00 am this morning I had received Happy Birthday wishes via:

email (in several accounts), a Hallmark ecard, and twitter. Several folks popped in via my skype. I received notes on my wall, a gift and a message in my Facebook...F2F my kids & husband got up early to sing, I was greeted by kids in the hall at school (there are 2 seniors--twins with whom I share a birthday...word gets around), and my colleagues left a gift and card on my desk. I received messages on my home phone, my cell phone, my office phone...

So on my birthday, I started to reflect on this past year. Most of the folks who took time out of their day to wish me a happy birthday I didn't know 1 year ago...Many of them I have never really met face to face.

1 year ago, I celebrated my birthday on a hayride with my family...and then the learning began

• 3 days later I was offered my current job (tech integration coach for Classrooms for the Future) AND my daughter was born
• 1 month later I used my mac for the first time
• I attended bootcamp for Classrooms for the Future and made a few connections
• I created my Connected Classroom video and presented at PETE & C where even before the video was unveiled, I made a few more connections.
• In June attended edubloggercon where I reconnected with a few folks and connected face to face with a few more.
• In July was on staff at the Keystone Summit where connectivity was a sort of a theme
• In the fall CFF Bootcamp rolled around again...and the network I had grown helped make the presentation I did on del.icio.us pretty powerful.
  

This post isn't about my birthday per se but about how much I have learned since my last birthday...about the connections I have made....I find it absolutely incredible that most of the folks who have popped in to say happy birthday via skype, email, twitter, facebook...I didn't know on my birthday last year...nor have I ever met face to face. If that much can change in 1 year....what will life be like when I DO turn 40...or 50 for that matter...

In the meantime, THANKS for all of the birthday wishes, and thanks for continuing to be a part of my learning network--I look forward to many more years of learning with all of you