My fingers are ready

Well that blog title should get some interesting hits on google. Hey ya pervs! Now go away. To the rest of you friends, hi :) How the heck are you? I'm pretty good. I put the 'ole blog on the back burner for quite awhile, and almost left it there (as I've been known to do cooking whilst imbibing) but it's been beckoning to me lately.

I've always been a very linear, goal oriented person. I got through high school and college by focusing on little "milestones" (getting drivers permit, getting drivers license, getting a certain G.P.A., etc.). This blog was easy for me when it was milestone driven (my 40th birthday). I think I had the adult equivalent of finals week letdown after my birthday. And it's still lingering except this time I don't have a three day hangover and bronchitis.

So it's time to invent a new and/or improved purpose for this blog. Here's what I love about it. I love making people laugh, smile, snort, giggle and possibly pee a little bit through relatable stories. I love talking about great discoveries or calamities in my life. I love talking about the things that make aging a little more bearable and the things that make it really freaking frustrating. I love talking about my kids. I love not feeling alone in the world. I love inspiring people to live their best lives whatever their age.

I don't love it when it feels like work. I don't love editing myself because I'm worried about being crass or some future employer reading my blog on a background search and deciding not to hire me based on my potty talk. There's a REASON this blog is semi-anonymous. I started it for catharsis. I miss my girlfriends who I can be ridiculous with. We spend so much energy editing ourselves to be appropriate around our kids, our co-workers, strangers, in-laws and the like. Sometimes it just feels good to let it all hangout you know?

One of my very wise readers commented a long while back and said something that has stayed with me: "I see life in terms of my eulogy. Give me the crazy, goofy Aunt telling stories on me any day. (Over the p.c. "she was a pillar of her community/family/church version.)" I need to remember that if someone doesn't like what they read here, they will move on. And that is fine by me.

Let's have some fun.

Jiggle Butt Joe

Hey there.

So sorry if you came to check the blog and found it was "invitation only". Long, boring story. All is back to normal now. For your patience you get a treat. Here are my boys having fun with the Franklin Speaking Dictionary. It really is funny to make it say naughty things.

Stay tuned, please.

Hey all.

First, thank you to everyone who posted a comment and to those who thought about posting a comment but then had real life tear them away from the computer to wipe a bum, cook dinner, work, walk a dog or maybe you just had to pee and then forgot. I get it.

I WILL be back to the blog. I actually feel like I have quite a bit to say. I just can't say it now because I want to be mysterious. Not really, I'm just super tired.

But I will leave you with this current meditation I'm having on aging:

Butt hair. More. WHY???


Discuss.

Crossroads. Hep me please!

I need your help.  Ever since the big b-day I've had a hard time getting motivated to write.  I have been crazy busy with work & kid stuff, but I'm also lacking some motivation.

We spent almost a year together working up to 40.  Now we're here.  What should we do next?

I'd really love to hear from you about what you've enjoyed reading about, why you come back to this blog, what you'd like to hear more about in the future, etc. 

Speaking of motivation, I miss this guy.

Hey there.

I'm back.  Like the ghosts in Poltergeist (which we watched part of on vacation btw - freaky to see now as a parent).

Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a comment, you were all lifelines during a very hard time.  I did a lot of soul searching (and crying) over the last week and a half.  My family is the most important thing in the world to me.  Hurting them hurt me very deeply.

I have tried to get reflective about all of this.  Interestingly enough, the movie on the plane was very helpful and not just by keeping my mind off my impending death (have we talked about my fear of flying yet?).  It was "Marley and Me" which I hadn't seen yet.  If you haven't seen it, it's columnist John Grogan's autobiographical account of family life with their crazy dog Marley.  There was a point in the movie where his wife (Jennifer Aniston) is looking over a collection of his columns and marveling at the stories there.  Sad, funny, hopeful stories that had one thing in common; they were relatable.

That's all I'm trying to do here really.  Relate.  We're on this earth for such a blink.  This is one of my ways to connect.  To share.  To laugh.  To worry.  To bitch and rant.  It's ironic because I've thought of this blog as my column of sorts.  

I think I've unknowingly put parameters on this blog that only let me share a portion of myself.  I've made it up that if I'm not funny (all the time), no one will want to read it.  So I've left out a big chunk of who I am and that's not authentic.  Don't get me wrong, it's very hard for me to get through a conversation (real or virtual) without cracking a joke of some kind - but if I go into every post with the only intention to be "funny" then I'm not being true to my purpose here.

So I want to keep doing this.  With new ground rules.  I will share more of who I am with you, good, bad, smelly, hairy, scared (OK I'll stop).  I won't write anything about anyone that I would be embarrassed to have them read.  Unless they are complete strangers - you have to give me this one.  I will be true to myself in the sense that I will not filter things to be more "sanitary" or politically correct.

So if you've stuck around, thank you.  I appreciate you very much and have a LIST of things to talk about, so let's get to it shall we?