I’d call this a hiatus. Before I typed that word, I thought, “I can’t truly call it a hiatus because I didn’t KNOW it was going to be a hiatus.” In truth, I had no intentions between then and now of posting- alas it was a hiatus. And, I found a great quote to help bookend the time away, “Thus began a break of undetermined length and meaning.” (Jacob Slichter).

I like the “…and meaning” part of that quote. What did my hiatus mean?

I can tell you what I DID during that time: Quinn’s hair grew back, I started working as an Aide in a Pre-K 3 classroom at a CATHOLIC school (much more on that later), Paige and Aiden turned 2, I’m still not losing weight, I stopped trying to lose weight, I started trying to lose weight, marriage counseling (cue the gasp), Quinn started Head Start, Quinn was evaluated by the Committee on Preschool Special Education, he was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder/Sensory Seeking, Quinn subsequently failed a hearing test at school, then again at the audiologist, leading to our appt in a week with the ENT to see if tubes in his ears will fix the significant hearing loss apparently caused by extreme fluid build up behind his ear drum, friends have become pregnant with 2nd babies, my baby brother got engaged to his FABULOUS girlfriend, people have come out of the closet, people have locked themselves in the closet, people forget where the closet is, people think the closet matters, I read the ENTIRE Twilight series in 10 days, and have seen all 4 movies that have been released thus far- 3 of them many more than one time, Christmas happened in all of its yuletide glory, and here I sit, January of 2012 the year the Mayans ran out of room on their calendar… 😉

But, what did that all mean? I’ve become a better mother, hopefully a better wife, but I’ve become one that realizes she NEEDS to write. Something. Every. Single. Day. Writing has always come easily to me. Poems, short stories, this blog. However, when life gets busy and I forget that writing connects ME to MY life…I get all disoriented, disillusioned, and lots of other nasty dis- words. My ONLY New Year’s resolution is to write more. I hope you all get to see most of it- I’ve always been an open book- that’s how people learn and grow. I hope as I sort out my subconsciously planned hiatus, you can be there with me and we can all move forward, and be better.

Let us not, “pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.” as Auden depressingly writes in one of my favorite poems of all time. Rather, lets grow together- be better together.