A word before I go

I'm off to Ocean City tonight for one day at the beach. Princess and I will sun ourselves (if there's sun), put toes in the water, try not feel self-conscious in our bathing suits, play skee-ball, win fabulous prizes, eat caramel corn and soft serve and drive home late on Saturday. Sunday will be so jam packed that I won't have time to write anything. Thus, there may be a two-day silence on the blog. Shocking! Unprecedented! I know you'll be fine without me, but I will miss writing.

Last night, B1, my oldest brother, took me to dinner. He told me about his new projects and work things. He was photographed for Time Magazine on Friday--for a story on "Dads who cook." B1 may become famous! He plans to ride the wave as far as he can and maybe even write a cookbook. He said he'll need lots of help. He didn't ask for my help specifically, but I hope he will.

What did I tell B1? All about the blog. Can't believe I did it. I've mentioned before that we're not that close, though I think we like each other fine. But, I wanted to get B1's take on the whole thing because his professional insights (he's a literary agent) could be helpful to me if I ever want to do other kinds of writing…you know writing that might be printed on paper and for which people pay money. But, I don't yet know what kind of project I would do (and as B1 pointed out, I am published--in the sense that the blog is publicly available and people read it), so it was too early to tell him. But I told him anyway. He was impressed by my readership and total visits and by the amount of time and energy I spend writing. He said, "You're a real blogger." I blushed. I got very excited telling him about the blog, how it's helped me write and all the interesting people I've "met" this way. How much fun it is to read comments and interact with readers--and comment on their blogs--and how it's a great little warm and friendly virtual community. I also told him what a kick it is to see how many visitors I've had, where they came from and how long they stayed. Then I said, "I guess I'm a little obsessed."

He asked if he could see it. I said yes, but warned him I'd written some things about him. I said, "It's like a journal--you might write things you wouldn't say to the person." I thought it would be fine if he read it, but I don't know if he will. Then I said, "I could just take down the stuff about New Jersey; no one was very interested in my family stories." He said not to do that. I checked last night, and what I'd written about him wasn't too bad--I'll leave it and hope for the best.

This morning, before he left, he said, "Thanks for telling me about the blog." I said, "Thanks for listening. I did go on and on." He said, "No, it was interesting. It's fun." I'm sad that I get to see so little of B1. He's here until Saturday afternoon, but he's busy all day Friday and Saturday, so I went ahead and made the beach plan. I wish we could spend more time together. At least the kitty-cat will have company. He said she only jumped on him twice last night. Heh.

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So, this is what I get for thinking how warm and friendly our blog community is--my first "hate" comment from an anonymous poster who…wait for it…calls me fat! You gotta love it. I left the comment up, just for giggles. And, yes, this kind of thing will get you banned, because it's just not cool. (I hate to add this disclaimer, but the pic of me with Pleated Jeans is not the most flattering. In the other pic from that day with the two of us, I look rather svelte. But, you can see my lovely smiling face, and I wasn't ready to relinquish anonymity just to sooth my vanity. That's what I get, I suppose.)

Grateful for: laughing (hard) when someone calls me fat.