19,000 VISITORS!

WOW!

So I just dragged myself home from my second job -- ye old part-time grocery store gig -- and I dropped by the blog and voila!  My counter was smack dab on 19,000!

Another mile marker!

WooHoo!

And then, like I always say to myself when my visitor counter hits the next big number...I murmur "just think if I were actually writing and posting on a regular basis!"

So why aren't you writing?  

Drat!  Like clockwork, my inner Home Stretch Annie is back once again, quizzing me, instilling writer's guilt at every turn.

At which point I almost always sign in to Blogger, open a new post, announce my blog has hit the next big number, and then offer up several reasons -- aka excuses -- why I don't write on a regular basis.

Arghghghghghghghghgh.

I smell a rut.

I know, I know.

Friends, strangers, strangers-turned-friends, family members...everyone I know and love encourages me to get back to my writing, and I most always smile and say, "Yes, you are right!  I am going to start writing again".

And of course, I really should. Why?  Because I am a writer.  That is what I tell people, still, anyway.

Well, I order replacement TVs day in and day out, but I'm actually a writer.

Oh, really?  What do you write?

Um, well, um, I was a newspaper reporter for, gosh, 25 years, and I've done some freelancing, and well, now, I um, blog mostly.

Ohhhhh!  So what do you blog about?

Well, ya know, I blogged every day for three months starting last January...mostly midlife, menopausal meanderings...it was great!  I am at my best when I am writing...but then I stopped...

So why did you stop blogging?

Had to get ready for Daniel's high school graduation, then had to get him ready to go off to college, then there was dealing with the whole empty nest thing...now I'm working two jobs, I'm old, I'm tired...

Yada, yada, yada.

Yeah, You name it, I  blame it for interfering with my writing.

Why?

I. Don't. Know.

Life is not a dress rehearsal, Annie.

That I do know.

Heavy sigh.

Oy.

OK, so maybe it is time once again, to recommit to my writing.

"Time for you to recommit to yourself, period, Annie..."

Ya think?

Yup.

k.

I can't hear you!

K!

You go, girl!

Stay tuned...

Good Times!

ON TURNING 55...

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."
~ Albert Camus

MOMS FOR A BETTER WORLD UNITE!

TUESDAY 5:15 A.M.

The Art of Disappearing  by Naomi Shihab Nye

When they say Don't I know you?
say no.

When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.

If they say We should get together
say why?

It's not that you don't love them anymore.
You're trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.

When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven't seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don't start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.

Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.