12/10; 3; 960; 115,550...

Balloons by SRS Photo CC-BY-NC

Numbers and data are a fact of life for nearly everyone---not just teachers...and certainly not just bloggers. December 10 marks the day when this blog was rebirthed with an educational focus. There have been three trips around the sun in the interim and we're about to embark upon the fourth. (Isn't it nice to know that we are all astronauts?)

Over the past three years, there have been 960 posts (including this one). This means that I post on approximately 90% of the calendar days. There are times, like now, when I have some posts sitting in "saved" queue because I have more things on my mind than will coherently fit into a single post...and other times (like the summer or winter break) when there is a dearth of ideas to talk about. Although this blog has an education focus, my personal label makes up the greatest number of posts (132), with assessment (4) and gender (7) the least.

I have no simple means for determining the total number of published comments, but there have been about 115,550 visitors

VOX Blog by AtomicShed CC-BY-NC-ND

to ye olde blog, with readership more than doubling over the last year. It has been wonderful to see this small piece of the edusphere grow over time.

When I started this project, I didn't know how long it would last or how it would progress. At the time, I was just a baby Curriculum Specialist and had no interest in taking more coursework. Now, I continue to have more and more opportunities to have a voice in the educational landscape and am a year away from being able to write the letters EdD after my name. Will I still be blogging next year? In three years? In ten? I haven't a clue. What I do know is that I have come to discover that the edusphere is a vital and necessary community in the landscape of education. I believe to my core that the voices which are found here are among the most important and valuable to me in terms of continuing to refine my professional work. Life is changing for me, but this blog is a constant---and I don't anticipate leaving the edusphere anytime soon.

I tried finding a "Third Blogiversary" graphic to steal add to the post today...but most graphics are for one-year old blogs. Perhaps not that many of us make it to be three. Maybe this one has a certain evolutionary fitness...maybe it is built for endurance. In the meantime, we can celebrate with some flowers.

Bouquet by Muffet CC-BY

To my readers, a heartfelt "Thank you!" for your presence and comments. You are far more than just numbers to me. If you weren't here, I would likely still write, but just feel discouraged about it. :) It's good to be able to share and learn with you. I hope you will continue along with me on this journey as there is so much more to reveal in the coming years. Let us look forward to adding to our numbers...and toasting a fourth anniversary next year on this spot.