Writing Sheepishly

My office had a team-building day earlier this summer. At the beginning we were supposed to say our names, something we wanted to do this summer, and something we wanted to do sometime in the future. I said my name (hey, I’m JoAnna), what I wanted to do this summer (go to the beach) and then without thinking, I said what I wanted to do sometime in the future. My mom at the moment is hoping that I said that I want to go to law school, get a good job and support her in her old age. Sorry, Mom!!! Instead, I stated confidently that I would like to knit a sweater from scratch, starting with shearing the sheep. My co-workers looked at me like the wacko-banunu person I apparently am and asked the most obvious question: where will you find a sheep???

I asked myself a more important question: where the heck had that declaration come from? It is my experience that if you say something out loud it stops being make-believe and becomes something about which people start asking, "Why you haven’t finished yet?"  I immediately saw that I was in trouble.

In fact, this is the third time in the last year that I have gotten myself in just this type of trouble. I announced that I was going to apply to law school. Oh.  My.  Gosh. No, I haven’t applied yet. No, my essays are still in my brain and not on paper. No, I have no idea where I am going to go. But yes, you are right. I really should get on it.

Next, I announced that I was going to get my doula certification. Yes, I am attending births. Yes, that makes me a “real” doula. No, I am not certified yet. But yes, you are right. I really should get on that, too.

Now the whole sheep-to-sweater thing.  Oops. 

I made the mistake of saying these goals out loud and now I need to get my applications in for school, I need to finish my doula certification, and, apparently, I am in desperate need of a sheep and a sweater pattern (and some serious instruction by a person with experience working with sheep and sweater patterns).

Can you hear it coming?  It's the premise of this writing venture I have here!  I recognize that people keep asking me about these goals of mine because they care. I realize that I should give these people who care some updates on my status.  So I am going to track my progress on these three goals (getting into a less-than-laughable law/grad program, getting my doula certification, and making a sweater from scratch) and hopefully the saying-it-out-loud on a blog will make it come true.  

And I should do it in a reasonable amount of time.  Before, say, August 1 of next year, so people will stop pointing out that I really should get on it already.

Does this seem a little ambitious? Yea, I am a little hesitant (sheepish, perhaps?) making the declaration knowing that at least with the doula and the sweater stuff, it is totally possible that I won’t make my deadlines. Wish me luck?