Maybe there's something I don't suck at!

Remember that email I got from Mark Lipinski?

THEY'RE GOING TO PUBLISH IT!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP! SOMEBODY GET ME A PAPER BAG AND TURN OFF MY CAPS LOCK KEY!!!!!!

Whew. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Seriously, this is so huge for me. All I ever wanted to be when I was growing up was a writer, and I really wanted to be a humor writer and I pushed that dream aside because I convinced myself that a) I wasn't that good at it anyway and b) humor writing wasn't really a worthy pursuit. There are many, many reasons why I thought these things, reasons I won't go into at length here, but this blog has changed all that for me. Learning to quilt taught me that I don't have to be perfect at something to pursue it anyway, that I can be lousy at something and still enjoy it. Blogging about it has freed me to write, finally, in my own voice, without censoring myself and constantly worrying about what someone might think.

Every time that one of you comments or emails and tells me that I made you laugh, my heart just swells with gratitude. Knowing that I am succeeding, even a little, at the one thing I ever really wanted to do (while writing about something I never wanted to do until recently and can't do well at all) has — no exaggeration — changed my life.

So, thank you - all of you. My dear husband brought home champagne and when we pop it open this evening and I raise my glass, it will be a toast to you.

And when I pass out in a pool of my own vomit, and wake up with a nuclear hangover, I promise not to blame you. Now that's love, people. That's love.