I really miss writing here. I’ve been blogging on this site in one incarnation or another since 2007 or so. For a while I thought I would become the next Heather Armstrong or Jenny Lawson and then, after a bad Google Adsense mix-up, gave up on that and decided to amuse myself. I’ve written movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts and more, all framed through the “me” lens that is the essence of a “me blog.” That’s what this is, really. It started out as my MySpace blog, for Pete’s sake. A blog that, incidentally, I deleted 70% of because I made the boneheaded mistake of blogging about work.

I think I’ve told that story before. It’s a cautionary tale for everyone who blogs – be careful what you say on the internet because it will exist FOREVER. You can never get away from it. And yeah, that’s true. So, because of all the stuff that’s been going on in my life in the last couple of years, I haven’t blogged. Partly because it felt fake to post movie reviews when I had a sick family member or a huge life change. Partly because I’ve WANTED to write about those things so badly that I haven’t been able to trust my own judgement about what to share and what not to share.

I read all this thought leadership on social media and blogging. Partly because it’s one of my jobs (well, one part of two of my five jobs) and partly because I am genuinely interested in it. How the world has changed since I was in middle school, even. High school, too. We didn’t have a computer in my house growing up. I didn’t have a computer in my home until 2002 or so, and it was a work computer. The fact that I rely so much on the internet now astounds me. The realization that I itch to write about my personal life on this website rather than in a journal where the pages can stay private and hidden both shocks me, shames me and pleases me just a little.

So, anyway. The other day I was sitting on the front porch of my cute, quirky, totally non-functional little apartment and I heard a dog barking from far away. The sound started getting closer and closer, and soon a bright blue car passed my house. A brown dog had his head out the window and was barking joyfully, rhythmically, every two seconds like a metronome. The car passed by with the dog still barking, and I laughed with pure pleasure at the ridiculous and hilarious things that happen every day, as long as we stand still long enough to experience them. So do I need to vent online about my family problems, my failed marriage, my fears and worries, or the fact that I got laid off the day before my birthday? No, I don’t. I can’t promise I won’t occasionally mention those things, but mostly I’m going to tell you about those beautiful bizarre moments as they happen.

Because life really is amazing.