Welcome to Blogging!

I've been writing since I was 10 and have never stopped.  I've always felt a strong pull to write in a journal or comment on some bizarre thing that happened one day. My pings to write have resembled the op-ed column by Anna Quindlen, without the fancy newspaper or salary.  In the past, I was the co editor-in-chief of the St. Joseph High School newspaper (the Cadet Courier if anyone remembers it), where I was able to write a few columns.  After college, I was a master writing tutor at Housatonic Community College, which was the best job I ever had (and it paid well for part time.)

I simply comment on life as it happens to shake out. For example, I got a great laugh yesterday with my 4-year-old niece. I was playing Flynn, the thief that rescues Rapunzel from her tower (reference the movie "Tangled").  I said in a manly voice, "You are so beautiful, Rapunzel," and she came back with "I'm not so beautiful; I'm just a little beautiful!"

The little girl saying this is a talkative, spunky little thing who astounds most people with her gift for gab.  She speaks so well that that you can sit down with her for ten minutes and have a very intelligible conversation.  One day she said to me, "Auntie Mandy, you look tired. Did you stay up late again?"  I am known for staying up until midnight if the spirit moves me, especially during tax season.

I was saying the other day that being an aunt has made me wake up and live again.  Once you've seen a little face light up when you enter a room and give you a big hug, it's addictive.  The comic relief I get from my niece and her equally gabby 7-year-old brother is priceless.  If I need to know some obscure fact about dinosaurs or anything else, John is the man to see.  Giulia is the expert on all things princess.

Trying to be a better example for these kids made me go back to school and find myself again.  I want them to see that there are people in the world they can emulate.  And having a good mentor is priceless!