When I was 18, I thought:
- I wouldn’t get married until I was old–like in my 30s
- I might have 1 child someday
- my bachelors would take forever
- I would love being a high school drama teacher
- I had said goodbye to my beloved Europe forever
- homeschooling was for cultists, who don’t allow females to wear makeup or blue jeans
- “athletic” was a word that could in no way be associated with me
- having kids drained the fun out of life
- there’s no way a husband could also be a best friend
Nearly 20 years later, I find myself living way beyond my original life’s vision:
- I married at 20
- had 4 fabulous children
- felt college breeze by, including the 2 years in the masters program
- have great respect for public school teachers, but could not be bribed, drugged, or arm-wrestled into becoming one
- hang my hat in Germany
- teach all 4 of my kids at home and on the road, while wearing pants and makeup simultaneously
- finished a marathon without an ambulance
- laugh more with my kids than with any other group of people on the planet
- have a friendship with my husband that grows deeper every day
I have a lot of goals, and I wonder if they will be met in the way I anticipate, or if life has something bigger in store for me.
In the future, I want to:
- be published
- make an actual income from writing
- avoid cold, dark and snowy places at all costs
- run an ultra marathon
- do ten real push ups in a row (don’t laugh–it’s a dream of mine)
- write more letters with paper & ink
- learn a second foreign language
- be less self-centered (I admit, blogging doesn’t help this)
- improve the world in a meaningful way
- travel to Africa
- watch my kids soar
- love my husband even more than I do at this moment
Twenty years from now, I wonder what I will think of my current goals–they seem pretty high to me.
Auf Gehts, Mama! 
Keri, I think this is a great idea…looking back at our thoughts at age eighteen or even sixteen. We change a little every day if we are fortunate enough to learn and observe pourselves and the life going on around us.
I believe that you will be published and that I may have you at a book signing in my book store. Since Danielle plans to go into music, maybe she will be there signing CD covers along side you. Ohhhh, a new thought…a book, a movie and a sound tract.
I will be trying to remember my thoughts at eighteen. You will be surprised to hear this, my Grandma Anna Lewis wanted me to wait until I was 30 to get married. She wanted me to travel around the world before even thinking about marriage.
Stay well and happy,
Tia Carolyn