Like everything else in my life, this site is a work in progress. Its primary function is as a place to discuss writing, but since I’m not very good at compartmentalizing, other topics are liable to creep in—food, friends, family, faith, work, cats, books, nature, and goofy jokes, just to name a few. The challenges of life as a freelancer. The complexity of bird songs as I sit on the porch. The never-ending to-do list. Aging, my own and others’. The importance of trying new things even when they’re scary (although I doubt I’ll outdo my aunt, who celebrated her 80th birthday by jumping out of an airplane as her sons paced below). What it means to walk through this world without a built-in companion such as a spouse or child, especially when so much of life is constructed around the expectation that we have such people to step up and step in. The joy of unexpected conversations with strangers. The importance of kicking back and accomplishing absolutely nothing, even if just for an afternoon. And the wonderfulness of the Roomba, which vacuumed my house while I built this website. (Multitasking at its finest.)

As I said, not very good at compartmentalizing. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Since it drives me crazy when people don’t keep up their blogs or sites, here’s my commitment to you, the reader: every other Monday (maybe late on Sunday), I will post a new piece on the page entitled, “Things I Have Learned So Far.” I might toss in something extra during the interim, but at the very least, you can count on something new by every other Monday. Especially if Monday means a return to routine and tedium and trudging through obligations, I hope this affords you a tiny break. And if it gives you something to think about, and maybe even makes you smile, so much the better.