No, I am not pregnant.

But I have been catching up on old friends from high school via MySpace (feel free to add me as your friend if you have one by clicking here.) So many of the people I graduated with or attended with have children. Many have more than one! These are the same people I played basketball with, some I dated or had crushes on, or sat with at lunch.

Chris’ younger cousin Phil, and his wife, Mary, also have a little new munchkin of their own. One of the pastors I report to and his wife are adopting a baby, and it seems like there are quite a few people on staff who are pregnant. I just read an article from an old boyfriend and he was writing about his daughter. Another ex has two kids.

We were having dinner with our friends Charles & Kim Monday night. They’re in the same boat we are as far as our age and how long we’ve been married (they got married the day after we did in the same year) and we started talking about how so many of our friends have moved into this “settle mode” with kids, houses, careers and how it’s becoming harder to understand where they’re coming from.

It’s a little strange, to be honest. Chris and I really have never wanted children. We found out not too long ago it would be hard for us to have kids, even if we wanted to, and if by some random chance I ended up pregnant, it would be pretty high risk. We’ve thought about adopting later on or becoming foster parents in twenty years, but as of now, mini-Jacksons are not in the plans.

Some people think it’s weird we don’t want kids, especially when we come from working with students. It’s not that we don’t like kids…we just wouldn’t make good parents. Trust me on this one; this is not some lame attempt at false-humility. We are both pretty irresponsible, not to mention financially challenged.

And we often forget to feed our cats…if that’s any indicator.

*How old were your parents when they had you?

*How old were you when you had your first child?

*If you don’t have kids – do you want to one day?

Jay Leno…Taylor Hicks’ long lost brother? What do you think?

(By the way, a secret dream of mine is to meet Jay Leno, so Jay, if you’re reading this, hook a sista up.)

I did this a few months ago, but since there are some new people, I thought I’d do it again…I’d love for even those who have been reading for a while to post, just so we can get to know everyone. You never know when you might find someone who shares a common interest!

-Who are you?

-How old are you? (you can give a range…)

-How’d you get here?

-If you have a blog, a link…

-What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Chris & I are driving to Kansas City today so we can see some of the most amazing kids graduate! Please pray for safety.. We drive back Sunday!

Since starting FlowerDust.net back in December, my blog has gone from receiving 130 unique visitors a day to almost 300. I’m not sure who 275 of these visitors are lurking around, but I’m glad you’re here.

I’ve decided to revisit some of the more conversational posts written on my Xanga site before the birth of FlowerDust.net. To some of you, they’re old news, but I hope the rest of you will discuss as you all do so well. Here’s one I wrote back in September 2005 about emotional affairs.