Dear readers, it's me, Stephanie

Hi there. I know you're wondering where I've been. I have missed our time together, to a degree, and I feel like I owe it to the four or five of you who keep showing up to at least say something about where I've been and what I've been up to.....

I trained again this year for the Susan G Komen 3-Day for the Cure. I walked two to four miles, nearly every day this summer, in temperatures pushing 86 degrees at 5:30 am each day. I put one foot in front of the other, again and again, for more than 600,000 steps on my pedometer.

I found, to my surprise, that the emotional and physical toll that I paid each day in perhaps the hottest summer Texas has logged in decades, has taken the edge off my need to write. In the past, I have used this little forum to air grievances, provide comfort, or numb the pain that comes with the day to day grind of being a grownup. The miles I logged this summer, however, have taken away my need to vent through writing. And for that, I'm sorry.

I have lots of things I'd like to say about my job and some of the people I work with. But since I like my job (even when I don't always like the people), I think it's best I keep my mouth shut. I have plenty to say about politics right now, but I also have a deep-seated need not to piss off those close to me, so keeping my mouth shut is probably the lesser of two evils. Things at home are good more often than not, so I don't have some huge compulsion to air the family dirty laundry online.

I still find things funny and totally share-able, but I'm doing all that sharing through twitter, 140 characters being not so much a challenge, and all... I still find my daughter to be the most amazing human being on the face of the earth. Part of me regrets that I'm not recording her history here, but part of me rejoices that the times she and I share together are ours alone, not meant to be chronicled for the unwashed masses.

Will I be back again, writing soon? It's hard to know. All is good within my soul right now, friends, and I feel like I need to honor that and spend some time away.

I hope you'll keep me on your RSS feeds or check back every now andthem.