Hey, this is funny. I have a Trip Advisor badge. I think I’ve only reviewed two restaurants and one scenic destination, but I have over 5,000 readers! People must be flocking to the Credit Island bird sanctuary in Davenport, Iowa, all because of me. I may have sealed the fate of that Vietnamese restaurant in Cedar Rapids we ate at the other day, but holy cow, it was just marginally edible.
If only it was a real badge, one I could sew onto sash and wear while traveling. I still have my Girl Scout sash. Oh yes I do.
After retiring from a column-writing gig lasting eleven years and yielding over 300 personal essays, I find I still have something to say. My thoughts range far and wide, and occasionally deep, on subjects including being an Iowan who misses Colorado; surviving marital violence; raising an amazing daughter and an equally amazing son; being justifiably angry about the world “these days;” writing poetry and plays; wondering if I’ll get Alzheimer’s like my mom and her two brothers; wanting to write about my twin granddaughters without sounding all Hallmark-y; fixing OCD-ish food; making sense of pants that come in shorts / crops / ankle-grazing / bootcut; being a librarian in public, academic, archival, and medical libraries; waiting 46 years to attend my high school reunion; having a gorgeous garden I can’t take care of; seeing a shaman; loving good men despite all the bad ones; and trying to wrest a little joy from life despite an 11-year-and-counting chronic migraine.