Let's start at the very beginning....

Do re mi fa so la tea do! We've all seen the The Sound of Music (one of my hubby's favorites and supposedly his Aunt Shirley's as well) and sang the song. Maria and I had something in common (both of us sported a really bad short haircut at one time - picture NOT to be included here), as well as raise and love another man's children. Climbing mountains was NOT a shared love, as I am fearful of heights (and birds, and ....oh, that's another blogpost).

It's hard to write about the now, without sharing the before, so in a nutshell (don't even get me started), here is the (hopefully, for your sake) condensed version.

I guess with blogging you have to choose your words carefully and not slander anyone or perhaps you can rename them or just flat out pretend. Feel free to read between the lines when I don't supply them.

Who Am I Anyway? (am I my resume? - gotta love A Chorus Line and I do, as well as most musicals (which is so sad considering I am tone deaf and knowing all the words to all the songs, does NOT help!). Anyway.......

You will notice (how could you not?) that I write in what is called a 'freefall' fashion. It works for me - I like that 'stream of consciousness' feel. Apologies in advance for ramblings and veering off whatever provocative topic I am musing about. It happens and will continue to.

Back to me and the other cast of characters in my life!
I'm a Daddy's girl and my Mother's daughter - meaning, my dad is put on a pedestal (deservedly so) and my mom takes me shopping, keeps my secrets, notices and corrects my typos and wishes my hair was more 'controlled' - I love them both dearly and hate this whole 'getting older' business (for me and for them).

I have one older and one younger brother. In my immediate family, we refer to Steven as 'Uncle the Brother' because my younger brother Richard (forever known as Uncle Richie, even to our deceased dog Coltrane) and I started calling Steve 'the brother' and when he became an uncle, well, you do the math. I'm not sure he knows that we refer to him as Uncle the Brother, but now he does, and we say it with love.

I can't change the names and details enough here, so let's sum up in a few sentences, my first marriage (lasting less than 4 years). It was a beautiful wedding, and then it went downhill. Suffice said. While I was still tending my wounds I became reaquainted with a guy I had known from my teens, who had married young and had 3 daughters and then divorced. We became best friends, and then more. Twenty years later, admidst much drama, chaos and laughter, we are still together, and have added our son Sam, to the family clan. My family is my home, my salvation, my sanity, my life.

I mentioned my colon cancer in another post, so I won't bore you with the details (do you really want to hear about blood in the stool? I think not, but hey, if you find it, get it checked out!).

I've always loved to read, thanks to my cousin Gloria showering me at an early age (grade 6) with books by authors as diverse and wonderful as Betty Smith, James Michener, Sidney Sheldon, Leon Uris and Harold Robbins. I didn't always understand the stories or how they were 'told', but I always wanted, needed, more. I wrote in journals, kept diaries and made lists of 'top tens'. I never thought I was a writer, but loved to write.

I belong to a few online book groups and participate very actively in my own f2f (that means face to face) group, called the Book Bitches (though just today someone wrote that they would prefer to be called the Book Babes - what's so wrong with being a bitch?). We take our group seriously (some months more than others) and read and discuss openly and honestly and share so much. Shout out to my Bitches/Babes!!!!

What else do you need to know? I guess you can just ask me. I'm pretty open and feel that my life IS more or less an open book. Bottom line, I love to converse - with you, with myself, with whoever is listening. I'm not sure if I have something to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. I'm just not going to sing it!