New Year, New Challenges

2009 is the year for CHANGE.  Change is definitely in the air.  And in keeping with this theme, I have decided to change my life in some key and challenging ways.  First, I'm applying to graduate school for a masters in public health.  Second, I'm committing myself to becoming more fit with a goal of completing a half marathon in November. 

I want to be a better me, both on the outside and the inside.  I need new challenges all the time.  I love learning new things and seeing what I can do.  I don't really like running, well I do, but only in the moment, not in the thinking about doing it moment.  Just yesterday I ran two miles straight and felt pretty good about myself.  I haven't done that in more than 3 years.  As far as school goes, I haven't been in a real class since 1997.  But I managed to do reasonably well on the GRE and wrote a decent personal statement, so I'm up for the challenge of graduate level work.

So come September I will be working part time, going to school part time, and mothering/partnering full time.  Somewhere in there I will need to keep up my training for the half marathon and see my friends once in a while.  I know lots of women take on these kind of juggling challenges on a daily basis for years...but it is scary and exciting to me.  As I have mentioned before, I rebel against having my time blocked out for me.  I need to have a certain amount of free time or I go a little bonkers.  So working out a schedule that allows for everything is going to be interesting.  I'm sure I can get lots of advice from my mom friends.  But in some important ways, each woman has to go the road alone.

I just hope that my beautiful son doesn't get lost in the shuffle.  He will be starting preschool, with three full days and two half days.  We will have less time for all the fun outings we do now, but we'll just have to pack more into our quality weekend family time.  I am going to be asking much from my wonderful and supportive partner; things are going to have to be more equal on the homefront.  We are working our way towards equal parenting, but we still have a long way to go to be truly equal in the home-making department.  I am hoping we can swing hiring a cleaning person for even just once a month, otherwise our bathrooms might never get clean.  I readily admit that I am not superwoman.  I'm not even batgirl.  I need help.

So hopefully over the course of 2009, I can offer little updates into my life and share my victories and challenges along the way.  Any advice, pointers or co-misseration will be greatly appreciated.