Pause

It's official--there has been a pause--a hiatus, in TV terms. First, there were the nights that became days that became nights, making me not quite sure what day it really was and for what day I had written. And then there were the hours between those days when sleep was all there could be. But now, there has undeniably been a pause.

I have spent many an hour over the past few years stressed about any posting pause. Perhaps it was the premise upon which this blog had started--that it, like a soap opera, should be an everyday endeavor. More likely, it was the feeling that, like the gym, it was an endeavor that would continue only with complete dedication--that any pause in the action would be the beginning of the end for the endeavor as a whole.

And yet, as I arrive at this moment when a combination of work and life have firmly created a pause, I remind myself of the other--and perhaps more significant--piece upon which the blog was begun, the concept of "not washed up yet." For most of the several years of this blog, I have celebrated the power of being willing to redefine ourselves, of allowing ourselves to change the rules and even break them if and when necessary. So, it is in that spirit that I accept a pause born of family and relative work success and just a general dealing with life. More important, I remind myself that the person who has faced down the work challenges of the past few years, writing all the way, is not a person who will let "pause" mean "stop." Even soaps had weekends (and toward the end of some, reruns!). And even the most dedicated among us can benefit from a pause.

So, stay tuned--there is more to come. Because even after all this time, and even after a pause, I can say with certainty, you and I are not washed up yet.