About the Potato……Spudsie

I’ve heard rumors that an introduction to a blog needs to answer two questions. 

1.        Who is the author?

2.       Why is the author writing a blog?

To satisfy the insatiable curiosity of the half dozen people who may read this blog (Hi Mom and Dad!) I will attempt to give a satisfactory answer to both questions.

Who am I?  As if I could ever answer that question!  How many brilliant philosophers have struggled their entire life to answer that very question???  Yet to satisfy the curious “masses” I will make an attempt…

My nickname is Spudsie/Spuds/Spudster or anything potato related.  It’s a short story but to explain it would require publishing my actual name—and I value my privacy and relative anonymity and choose not to reveal the Clark Kent behind my Superman…er…Super Potato identity.  Suffice it to say that the name was given to me by a dearly loved group of friends. 

I’m a happily married potato in my mid-thirties living in the Midwest.  While we have no spud-ettes (aka children) Mr. Spuds and I do have two turtles we dearly love.  (Don’t laugh.  They make wonderful and surprisingly personable pets!)  In the summer of 2007 we lost our beloved beagle-mix Lexus.  I’m sure she’ll be mentioned occasionally throughout this online journal.  Lexus was an amazing dog—well loved and deeply missed. 

My time tends to be divided between my family, my job, my church and my books.  Yup.  Books make my top 5 list.  J  And they will be featured prominently in this blog.

My life is rich and blessed.  And at the same time it feels unfulfilling.  Which leads me into the second question.

Why am I writing this blog?  I am writing this primarily as an online journal.  I want to record my thoughts, my feelings, my moods, my emotions, and my experiences over a period of time. 

About a year ago I decided enough was enough and I was going to do something to change….well…I wasn’t sure exactly what I needed or wanted to change.  But dagnabit, I knew I needed to change SOMETHING!  So I began trying to make seemingly random changes on my own.  With little success.

Finally about six months ago I reached out for some help and started working with a coach—someone to offer a new perspective on my struggles, to offer guidance, to offer suggestions and guide me through difficult changes.  And it’s been amazing! 

One of the things Coach Jim suggests (strongly suggests) each of his clients do is keep a journal—a place they can look back on and remember where they started, how they felt, what they experienced.  And for whatever reason(s) I haven’t been able to do that.  I try.  (Honest Jim!  I try!)  But it doesn’t feel natural.  Nothing flows.  And the book remains blank with the exception of scribbles and nonsensical doodles.  What I have done instead is composed and (for the most part) sent lengthy e-mails to Jim and a few “lucky” friends.  These e-mails could easily be mistaken for tomes instead of simple e-mails. 

So for 5 or so months I’ve been “journaling through e-mail” and it’s worked fairly well.  It has allowed me to memorialize (Sheesh!  Can you tell I’ve worked with attorneys at one point?!  They don’t write or record anything….they memorialize.  J) my thoughts and my feelings.  But it has two downsides.  The first one—though they assure me I never could, I fear I will wear out my e-mail welcome with my friends and they will change their e-mail addresses at some point and “forget” to tell me their new one.  The second problem—it’s difficult to get all the e-mail threads in one spot and organize them.  And I thrive on organization!

So I decided to be brave, to be daring, to throw caution to the wind…..and create this blog.  (Yeah……I don’t get out much!  LOL!)

I hope to this will serve as a record of “One potato’s journey to chose happiness and the books she discovers along the way.” 

Intrigued?  Interested?  Irritated?  Well keep reading.  Walk this path with me and we’ll see what experiences, what books, what characters (real and fictional), and what changes I encounter along this journey called life.