Thirty

This past summer when we got back from Ireland, we brought with us a newly acquired taste for Irish Breakfast Tea. Rich, robust with a malt dreaminess, it is deliciously dark and soothing. We had it at least twice a day for two weeks while we were away. Caffeine of the gods, it became our new addiction. Upon our first few days home, it became painfully obvious that Lipton, my former light-hearted pal couldn't compete with our darker, edgier import. So we found Twinings Irish Breakfast Tea in Publix (oh relief! ecstacy!), ordered Lyons (the tea of Ireland) by the box over the internet and invested in a sturdy tea strainer from Williams Sonoma and made tea time (not high tea because lordy, my butt is still recovering from all the potatoes of that trip) a regular feature in the afternoon. It's a bit of trouble, but once you lay everything out, let the tea steep in the teapot, give it good sniff before you pour, and sip ever so slowly, it becomes something you count on to help you sort the day out and relax. Yes, there's a cookie involved.
Here's what I didn't count on after 30 days of blogging: that I would love it. I'm a decent writer but I lack a work ethic when it comes to writing because it's hard. Being a lazyass, I tend to shy away from things that are a challenge. But this is what has come of it. It's easier. Who knew that what I'd been preaching to my students year after year about writing, that the more you write, the easier it gets would actually be true? I thought that was a teacher urban legend like the importance of your permanent record and making a difference with your students.
I never thought I would actually do it for 30 days and if I did, I thought I would come to the last day the way you feel after doing 10 sets of lunges: thank God that's over!
So I feel changed in a way that I can't describe so maybe 30 or 300 more days won't hurt me. I can tell you this, that I couldn't have arrived at this new addiction without MJ and JSG pulling me into the technological freezone, and then encouraging me without the guilt to post. And as I've said in that pre-blogvow post, Pinky Swear, it was the lack of nagging, so sublimely and effectively subtle and their own regular blogging that inspired me. Then LJ, my brother from a different mother, he came along to keep me honest and true to my word. God love him and JSG because their blogs were my compass. EG joined us as did KV and now we have something unique, something I cannot do without and not just writing mine but also peering into everyone else's head. It's become something that connects us in a way I couldn't have predicted. I feel a little like Susan Lucci when she finally won that Daytime Emmy after 23 consecutive noms. Like I want to thank everyone because you've given me such a gift: you've read what I had to say and you were kind and gracious. You honored me with your time and your voice. Talk about a sweet cookie.