The Thin Mints Are Gone

The Thin Mints are gone. I ate half a sieve last night for dinner and polished off 6 more for breakfast today but it was worth it. They will no longer haunt my every waking thought.

And before anyone jumps my case about cookies for dinner, know that I considered eating the healthy meal of zuchinni-couscous I had planned. But then I thought about it. I would eat the zuchinni-couscous and still want the cookies. So I would probably eat things like an apple and a South Beach Diet chocolate bar in lieu of the cookies. But I would still want the cookies. So then I would drink hot tea and water and eat grapes and bread and anything else I could lay hands on, in order that I not eat the cookies.

I'm up to what--2000 calories at that point anyway?  So why not just eat the cookies and skip the rest of the food. Which is what I did. And was very happy for it.

On the bright side, I did not eat all the cookies. The night I opened the box, Blair had one just so I could say that I did not eat the entire box by myself. That's a good man.

I'm flying high on a chocolate caffeine rush. Must either go work now or pass out. Have a good one.

Living the Good Life in A Small Town

Although I gripe about living in a small town and having to make the 40 minute drive for a nice meal out or a movie, I truly enjoy life in my little (2500 population) town.  And this week I was given an example of why life in a small town can be worth your while.

Last week my neighbor's 90-year-old mother passed away. She had Hospice care in the few weeks before she died and the Hospice worker was concerned that my neighbor was not on her mothers checking account. But there was no way my neighbors mom could get to a bank. So the manager of the bank, hearing this, walked the couple of blocks to my neighbors house with the paperwork and had everything signed without my neighbor's mom ever having to get out of bed. First Citizens Bank. That's good service.

When Blair and I first moved to Madison, there was a small gift store that has since gone out of business. We found some Christmas presents there we wanted to buy but decided to come back for them. However, we both worked out of town at the time and couldn't get to the store before it closed. So the owner left our purchases on the back stoop for us to pick out and trusted us to just slip a check in the door. Lovely.

I love going to my dry-cleaner where they know me and I never have to give my name. Or the Chinese restaurant where we walk in and they bring sweet tea for Blair and hot tea and water for me to the table before we ever order because they know what's that we want.

My little town doesn't offer much in the way of entertainment or excitement. But it's filled with good, genuine, friendly people. And if tragedy ever struck, I have every confidence we would be embraced by the community.

That's the benefit of small town living.

Marathon Mania

26.2 or bust! This is the year I run my first (note the inherent optimism in that statement) marathon. December 8th, Kiawah Island, South Carolina. The same place I ran my half-marathon in December. That course is as flat as a pancake and I'm going to assume last year's 25 degree start weather was an abnormality (there's that optimism again).

The weather is turning nice and I'm itching to get outside and get running. I went to a local training store 's online site and printed off the marathon training schedule for beginners. July 22nd marks 20 weeks out from the week of the marathon and the day the "formal" training begins. Of course, I'll be huffing and puffing around town well before then. I want to run a 5k and 10k this spring.  Then I'll run a 1/2 marathon in October.

Funny how perspective changes. Last year all I could think was, "My God, I hope I can make it 13.1 miles without dying." Now it's "Oh, 13.1. That will be a nice little pre-marathon jog." Like there's no worries!

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and start driving into Greensboro this summer to run. My little town is just not scenic or fun to around. I can only summon so much enthusiasm to circle the K-Mart parking lot yet again. Parks and water and birds and nature are required for long runs. I hate driving 40 minutes to run for an hour, but I think that's what it's going to take.

I'm acting as if I'll make this marathon with no problem, but in truth I am worried. That's a long damn way to run. And I am not the most consistent runner. If it's raining or cold or Mars isn't aligned with Pluto, I can be inclined to blow it off. I think I like the idea of being a marathon runner more than I might like it in practice. But I'm going to do it! Last year I watched an 80-year old woman cross the marathon finish line. That pretty much kills any lame excuse I might be able to come up with.

Not that I won't try. CHEERS to everyone!

Close Friends I've Never Met

E-mail can be such an odd thing.

I was sitting with a friend the other day, talking about writing, and she asked what sort of relationship I had with an editor at a magazine.

"It's great," I enthused. "She's funny and open to new ideas and we get along really well."

"How often do you talk to her?" asked my friend, and it hit me. Never. I've never spoken to this woman once in the almost four years I've written for her. She could have walked into the coffee shop and sat at the table beside us and I wouldn't recognize her. We've never talked on the phone. Our entire relationship is, in fact, e-mail based.

That seems like an odd thing to me, especially as I consider her not just an editor but a friend and am pretty sure she feels the same. Then I started counting up "friends," and realized--for better or worse--that I have a whole host of friends comprised of people I've never actually met and probably never will.

I know I'm not alone. With the prevalence of list-servs and My Space boards and e-mail, we're all bonding with cyber friends. Is this a good thing? I don't know. But I know it's not all bad. I have several good writer friends who critique my work and whom I trust implicitly. We all started five years ago on a writers board and then moved to form our own group. I've met one gentleman and one woman from the group, but some members are in Oregon and Wyoming and Texas and all around the nation. We send each other Christmas cards, share personal struggles and achievements (one woman's father passed recently and she's now taking care of her mother with Alzheimer's), and are friends in all aspects except for the fact we've never met.

One man from our group just published his first book and thanked all of us in the acknowledgements page. I did the same with my book, as these were people who were there for the first cat story I ever wrote and critiqued each and every story that followed.

For years, I wrote the humor column for Cats & Kittens magazine. It's a national magazine but based out of Greensboro- the town I drive to at least twice a week. I went almost 3 years before I bothered to stop by and meet the editor, a woman I had exchanged jokes and tips via e-mail with for years.

I must admit, I love e-mail. I'd rather type a message than talk on the phone any day. And it helps me keep in touch with long-distance friends who I used to see in person but now don't have that option.

How about you all? Any e-mail friends out there you've never met? Any plans to meet them?