Hello, peoples! I have been missing because I had to re-enter the corporate world (started yesterday) and I am preparing to move back to the city.

Enough about the mundane.

I collected (read it, heard it from a teacher, who knows?) this thought about writing long ago: write what you know. But I have come to the conclusion that I know about too many things for that advice to be practical for me - there would be no focus. So, I have foundered for a while, trying to define the reason for this blog, besides using it to solicit jobs. Tonight, I think I figured something out.

I did something I have not done in a long time. I just kicked back. It was amazingly lovely (if you say hyperbole, you don't know what it felt like to me). I was sitting in this kitchen, in my old neighborhood, and talking with a woman that I thought I didn't have anything in common with. She was peeling potatoes, and frying them up for her brother, son, and boyfriend. Being the only woman in the house, it was just expected that the chore of cooking fell to her. I cast an eye at old cabinets and cracked linoleum, remembering what it was like to live in the 'hood, and what I have been running from.

I watched her struggle to fry these potatoes in an old, worn skillet that was missing a handle. She had folded a rag to use to hold the pan, and it kept catching fire. I knew from experience that if you wet the rag a bit it decreases the heat insulation properties some, but won't catch fire as easy; but you don't correct another woman in her own kitchen, y'know? So I watched her struggle, and remarked 'it's so hard to find a pan that cooks well'. It was an honest comment, not meant to be sarcastic. She turned to me and smiled that knowing smile of a woman who recognized a kindred soul, and laughed and said 'yeah'. In that moment, I connected with every woman who ever carried around a favorite cooking pot.

I suddenly realized how incredibly spoiled I have become.

I haven't found the meaning of life, but I know it's not about me. And I doubt it is in one's physical possessions. It is maybe somewhere in the things you take with you at the end of a day; the lessons, insights, and experiences that make you grow. That's what I think I should blog about. If for no other reason, than to remind myself when needed.

Tomorrow after work, I'm loading my car with all the kitchen items I was going to put in a yard sale, and donate them to the thrift store in my old neighborhood. My sister in law will think I'm crazy just giving everything away (especially since I need to be cautious with my money right now), but I think it will better benefit me spiritually.

I read from the Tao Te Ching during lunch - blame that if you must.

PS- I still want the talking picture program below. It is just too cool.