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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIt feels very strange to be in the middle of 2021. I am not quite sure how it even happened. One minute it was March of 2020, and I was insisting that this pandemic thing had to be blown out of proportion and the next thing I know it is sixteen months later. A lot has happened in the last year, very little of which has been documented or recorded in this blog. My best friends have asked me when I was going to write. People I barely know asked me when I was going to write. My ready answer has been, \u201cthere is nothing to write about.\u201d Which, of course, is a big fat lie.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year happened. A great deal happened actually. People I love died. Langley moved into her own condo complete with renovations. Evans developed an infection in his knee that became a six-month medical ordeal. I tried, in vain, to landscape my yard. We came to Colorado for the summer and even hosted guests for a few weeks. There was plenty to write about. Not all of it was funny or awkward, but life happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before I could write again, I had to admit to myself that I did not write this past year because I am a brat. I like to say I was not my best self, but I was really so much worse than that. I had a low-grade, quiet, pity party all year. I blamed the pandemic, but it was me. I was bored. And restless. And generally unhappy. And what made it all worse is I knew, I KNOW, that my life is probably the best it has ever been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since I no longer work forty-plus hours a week, leading meetings, making decisions, writing on deadline, I focused my energies where they didn\u2019t belong. I meddled in Langley\u2019s life. I quarreled with Evans. I took my poor, elderly dog to the vet so much that we had to give our Colorado vet parting gifts when we went back to Nashville. I gained weight. I lost weight. I gained it back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My friend Carol told me I needed to go back to work. We were floating in her pool at the time, so I said no. But she wasn\u2019t wrong. Another friend had a major life change and I immediately started giving her intense instructions on what she should do next. I caught myself mid-rant and realized I was not actually adding value and maybe I should hush. She knows my offer to \u201chelp\u201d still stands, but I am guessing she has it pretty well in hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had a fairly new friend say to me once that she expected I was pretty good at staying in my own lane. If she only knew what a controlling, managing, lunatic I am when I am not actively having boundaries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I made myself so crazy with my desire to fix other people\u2019s lives that I thought about focusing all that (toxic) energy into writing a book. (Says the girl who hadn\u2019t touched her blog since December of 2020.) Let me assure all my publishing friends that I shelved that idea as soon as I thought it through. You will not be receiving unsolicited proposals from me, although I am pretty sure I still know how to write one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, now that I have admitted I have been a pill, I am more than a little controlling, and I have way too much time on my hands, what is the plan? First the pity party is over. Years ago, when I was whining about something, Carol (the one who told me to get a job) told me to \u201cWallow fast. You have two minutes to be miserable then you need to get over yourself.\u201d I am pretty sure she tapped her watch and said \u201cTick, Tock.\u201d Carol don\u2019t play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next step starts with writing this blog again. We are back in Crested Butte and there are concerts, street fairs, art exhibits, and wine tastings planned. I have committed to go hiking with my friend Terri (almost) any time she asks me. I am waitlisted for a Pilates class. I have things to do, friends to see, mountains to fall down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, finally, while I don\u2019t want a job, I think I will reach out to a few agents and publishing friends to see if any wannabe authors need a hand with a proposal. It is not meddling if someone asks you to tell them what to do and how to do it. I need to focus all this energy into something positive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, look for my blog at least once a week and maybe more often. Crested Butte had a fantastic Fourth of July parade, and our drive out here took twenty-seven hours. I should be able to find something to write about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank you for asking me to write. I love connecting with friends, and friends I don\u2019t yet know, through this blog. Thank you for your patience if you are reading this after more than a year. I will be finding the good and the funny, and of course the awkward regularly going forward. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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