Learning to juggle

Reader: "Where the hell have you been?"

Me: "What do you mean? I've been here, more or less"

Reader: "I don't mean physically. I mean blog-wise. Why haven't you posted for so long?"

Me: "I've been a bit busy lately."

Reader: "Oh. Doing what, exactly?"

Me: "Well, let's see. It's the busiest time of the year for my business so that keeps me pretty busy during the day."

Reader: "Ya. OK. What else is new."

Me: "Um. Then there is my 88-year-old dad who has Parkinson's disease and is pretty pissed off about it. He takes up a bit of my time."

Reader: "Ya, ya, you're a good daughter, we know all that. But what about the blog?"

Me: "Then there is the STBX that finally moved out (sort of) and left behind a load of crap that has to be dealt with - including some of his emotional baggage. I didn't think you'd want to hear about that."

Reader: "Correctamundo! No emotional baggage talk, thank you very much. But there has to be something that you could rant/talk/blog about that might be of interest. Didn't you just take some sort of trip?"

Me: "Oh ya! Bali! That was awesome. I could post some cool photos and tell you about how I rode an elephant or how I had to pay to get out of the country. Would that be interesting?"

Reader: "Yes. That might be nice. As long as you don't go on too long or show too many pictures of all the food you ate."

Me: "Oh. Well that will limit the number of pictures considerably and I'll keep the stories short."

Reader: "Good. Nothing bores a reader more than hearing about the FOOD you ate in some foreign country. I mean, come on. One story about food is OK but don't go overboard."

Me: "Got it. Short and sweet (or sour or tangy, depending on the food). "

Reader: "Anything new on the health front? I'm almost afraid to ask."

Me: "Well, there have been a few blips on the radar with regard to my 'condition' but I don't want to bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that I might be asking for more hats for Christmas. But let's not talk about that yet - we'll cross that rickety bridge if/when we get to it and then we'll all have Mojitos when we get to the other side."

Reader: "Crap! OK. I promise not to ask about your health again. Anything else?"

Me: "Since you asked.....we had to put our 17-year-old dog to sleep earlier this week. It was very sad but definitely the right thing to do. He went quickly and was munching away on dog treats at the time - his favorite thing to do."

Reader: "Bummer! You HAVE had a lot to do lately. I'm sorry I bothered you about the blog. You must think I'm a total jerk."

Me: "No no! Not at all. I really appreciate your interest. I was just worried that I would sound too whiny if I tried to post all this stuff. It helps to get it all off my chest, ya know? Thanks for listening."

Reader: "No problem. Glad to help. So, next post - Bali?"

Me: "And Singapore. Don't forget about Singapore!"

Reader: "Great! I'm looking forward to it."