Ten Thousand

Otherwise known as... How On Earth Is It Really Possible?

Tonight, as I write this blog post, Single Girl in a Small Town has reached 9, 993 pageviews.  Within minutes of this post being published, it will hit the 10,000 milestone.  To be honest, my goal was to hit 10,000 by Christmas-- the ultimate Christmas gift for narcissistic writers-- but I got busy and didn't post as much as I would have liked in November and December... and thus, a bit of delay in gratification.

And that's okay.

When I started writing Single I had just begun a budding relationship with Jerry that ended up bringing much heartache and going nowhere.  I had a quirky roommate who was fantastic and a hilarious father who brought much fodder to my Facebook posts if not the blog.

I don't have those things anymore. 

Life goes on, so they say.

I am now living in my parents' home once again, giving companionship to my newly widowed mother and assuring her affairs are in order.  I have the best boyfriend ever (BBE) in GDA, my Great Dancing Argentinian (I should say American-- he was naturalized last year), who offers mush at every turn but I do my best to restrain my offerings to the public at large. 

I want to keep him, after all. 

Until my father passed, I was having the best year of my professional life.  Everything seemed to be falling into place.  Being a high school counselor is what I was born to do.  It feels amazing to have that kind of fulfillment each and every day.  I missed seven days of work beginning in early January.  I know I will regain my competence and rock star status, but right now, I feel like I'm underwater.  How can I care for my students when I myself am so badly broken?  I will get there... but I know I have a long road ahead.  I guess awareness is the first step.

Next to the U.S., the blog has most commonly been read by friends in Guam, Canada, Japan, and the U.K.  The blog also has quite a following in Russia and Germany.  I still maintain that someone I know is living in Germany and reading Single, but I'll be darned if I know who that someone is! 

Readers have shared my trials and tribulations in salsa class, half-marathon training, and losing my lovehandles in bootcamp.  Readers have shared both bad dates and good ones, my adventures with Linette and Jessica, and tales of my family both near and far.  They know my favorite teacher, my favorite lesbians, my favorite restaurant.  Readers know that I enjoy a good glass of wine, a good yarn, a great night at Leu Gardens, and that the Enzian is the best independent movie theater I know.  Readers know that Julio is the ultimate in Puerto Rican men, and that The Vines on Sand Lake is the best Friday night dining experience anybody could have.  They know I am an overachiever, that I'm a sucker for a great indie flick, and I have a penchant for romance....especially a great smooch-fest. 

Readers know that I really love being mushy... but I do my best to reel it when writing Single for the sake of privacy.  They know that Japan is my heart, and that hunting for seaglass is the best way to spend time on a beach.  They know I have a love-hate relationship with Groupon, that I burned my legs in a most heinous way last summer, and that I am the owner of the best Alarm Kitty in My Small Town.  Readers have shared in my observations of the medical procedures I had last year.  They know that if they haven't already, they need to have a colonoscopy (it's really not as bad as you'd think) and that an annual smooshing is every woman's cross to bear.  And if it's not... it should be.

Readers know a lot.  Probably too much.

I have enjoyed sharing a bit of my Single life while writing these posts.  A few days ago, one of my professors from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, where I went to graduate school to earn my Master's of Education in Counseling degree, wrote to me to offer his take on the eulogy I wrote for my darling dad.  He told me to keep at my blog-- You're a writer!

I am. 

I don't know what the future holds, but I do know that I will be writing that future.  And even though as my dad said I have always mattered... I want to thank you, dear readers, for making me feel like my stories, really do matter.