Thirteen years.
I’m not sure there’s a way to type that without stopping for a second and thinking, wait what?!
On August 31, 2013, I published my very first blog post. I had no idea what I was starting. I certainly didn’t have some grand five-year plan for where it would take me. I was a teacher who liked creating things, sharing ideas, and apparently thought the internet needed to hear what I had to say.
And somehow, thirteen years later, I’m still here.
A lot has changed since that first post.
I’ve changed grade levels. I’ve changed roles. I’ve gone from classroom teacher to technology teacher to curriculum writer. I’ve earned a master’s degree, created countless resources, taught professional development, written curriculum, started new projects, abandoned some old ones, and reinvented myself more than once.
The blog has changed right along with me.
What started as a place to share things from my classroom became a place to share teaching ideas and resources. Then technology became a bigger part of the story. And eventually, the things I create and share expanded far beyond what I ever imagined when I hit “publish” that first time.
Honestly, I think that’s one of the things I love most about having this little corner of the internet. It has grown with me.
There have been seasons when I posted constantly and seasons when I barely posted at all. There have been moments when I was convinced I had finally figured out exactly what I was doing and moments when I had absolutely no idea what came next (like right now actually lol).
There have been new ideas, new beginnings, plenty of questionable decisions, and more than a few well, I guess we're doing this now moments.
But I kept coming back to creating because I still love it.
I love taking an idea and turning it into something useful. I love figuring out how to explain something better. I love helping teachers. I love curriculum. I love technology and all the possibilities it gives us. And I still get ridiculously excited when something I created helps someone else.
That part hasn't changed. So today I'm not really celebrating a blog. I'm celebrating thirteen years of creating, of learning, of teaching and being taught, of changing my mind, changing directions, starting over, and figuring things out as I go.
And thirteen years of having people come along for the ride.
To everyone who has ever read a post, downloaded something, shared my work, left a comment, sent me a message, told a friend about what I was doing, or simply followed along quietly from wherever you are THANK YOU!!
You have no idea how much it means to know that the things I make actually make their way into someone else's classroom, someone's professional life, or someone's day.
I have no idea what the next thirteen years will look like.
And it's really kind of exciting.
I suspect there will be more changes. More new ideas. More things I never expected to be doing. Probably a few more reinventions. And almost certainly some questionable decisions along the way.
But for now, I'm just going to pause and appreciate this.
August 31, 2013 → August 31, 2026.
Thirteen years.
Happy birthday to this little blog of mine.
And thank you for growing up with me.
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