A day late...

And my guess is that this post will come up more than a dollar short. After a quiet month, some sort of chatter is needed to revive the conversation.

I feel like transition is all around me these days, yet, it's my path that seems to most certain.

It's strange, for years, I was the one moving every summer, looking for and then starting a new job, and exploring a new town. Every year, it was revival - everything new. Yet, this year, I am the one in stasis. One friend is launching a new business, another has just given official notice and plans to start law school in the fall, while another has an eye-turned to the market and considering making a move. In another city on the East coast, two of my friends are simultaneously awaiting their own big changes - one is sitting for her nursing exams on the brink of launching a new career while another awaits the birth of her first child (a son, due anytime now). P and I just learned that two of our friends are ending their relationship. My sister is looking for a condo and my parents are planning to sell their house, downsize their monthly bills, and take up residence in my grandmother's home (she moved to a nursing home over two years ago). I don't have plans to visit the East Coast until next December, but it's odd to think how different it all could be.

At work, my building is over pretty intense construction - walls are coming down, sprinklers are going in the ceiling, doors are barricaded by rubble, and you have to watch your step with all the nails and wires all about. It's noisy and dusty and it's given the summer a distinctly chaotic and distracted feel. After eight hours of drilling the other day, I insisted on a junk food dinner and several hours of lounging on the couch before bed - I was wiped out. The great irony is that the construction should wrap up in August, the completion date coinciding with my vacation.

...That's Good Enough for Me

Yesterday, I spoke with a very depressed friend. He just learned that his favorite cookies, a soft, buttery, jam-filled biscuit has been discontinued because the bakery, Archway foods, had filed for bankruptcy. Facing a serious void in his life, he has begun a quest to find the new, perfect cookie, a process that may take weeks, even months. As a starting place, I recommended the Pepperidge Farm Softbake Snickerdoodle, a staple evening snack in our house.

This discussion, in turn, spawned a longer conversation about the much-loved, googly-eyed, Seasame Street character Cookie Monster. There's a undeniable purity about CM. He has found the secret to life's true happiness and spends his days in a focused, uncluttered pursuit of chocolate chip ambrosia. He's eliminated the things in life that don't bring him joy. There's no drama with Cookie. He knows who he is, he knows what he wants, he goes out and gets it. Cookie's signature song says it all, "C is for Cookie... That's Good Enough for Me."

Although it may sound reductivist to say, there are so many days in which I could be so clear about my purpose, be intently focused on my desires, and live for hedonistic pleasures. This blog is a place and a way to share these thoughts and experiences beneath an umbrella.

A Note on Housekeeping
So friends & readers, you are invited to share your writing here. You need not feel any pressure to write "on topic," just add whatever this Cookie Monster ethos means to you. And yes, you can write about cookies. In fact, one of the rules of Cookie Monster blog is that writers must use sneak the word cookie into their post once. In order to keep the blog going, I think we should aim for one post a week. It's like a subscription. If you get inspired, put something together, and send it to me. I'll post the entries here once per week on Fridays. A whole new twist of TGIF.

If you'd like to write something, comment below/email me and I can give you permission to post your own entry / links / photos. Or, if you don't want to bother with the mechanics, email me your text and I'll post it for you. It's low-maintenance, low-commitment. First time bloggers are welcome!