My excuse for the day--Marcia

I had heard that Richie had come by to see us while we were on vacation. I was hoping he'd stick around and maybe come back. We haven't seen him in about five years. I was hoping when he arrived I'd be looking good in my new boot-cut jeans, heels, and good hair. But instead, he showed up today, just after a grueling post-holiday training session. One in which I felt more water-buffalo than warrior.

School bus dumps kids, I'm mixing up a pot of goulash, knock-knock. There is a very tall man at the door. Guess who!

This my friends is Richie, the subject of my first novel, and the reason I am not going to be able to write my blog today.

I have been listening to him tell me about meeting lesbians who inherited stagecoach houses from dead cowboys, ladies who mine sea salt off the top of rocks in the middle of the ocean , of getting stuck in a flume trying to rescue his two inner-city culturally challenged young men who did not know how to swim, and now of his golden goddess a black-dreadlocked woman with a diamond in her tooth who he tipped over in a canoe one dark midnight in the middle of nowhere. Professional marijuana trimmers.

He has already told my sons that he'd be happy to share his beer, yes they can drive his truck, after they do their homework, and let's see . . . told em the meaning of "ho" and "Pimp". That in fact, their daddy is a 'noodle pimp." Life with Richie is always exciting.

I was going to write a fabulous story about New Year's and the Polar Bear Swim, how rejuvenating and exhilarating, etc. but, well you know, Richie popped in And when the big man shows, everything stops. I mean when was the last time you heard a good story about being chased by cops throught the hills, culverts, and bamboo of Paradise, California.

It's good to see Richie again, we've all missed him. He reminds us of how lucky we are to have really boring lives, and of the great possibiltiy of excitement in the world. We prefer to get ours vicariously.

My New Years resolution will have to wait. I have to hear how the story ends.

Happy New Years!