I love to people watch. Being an only child of small business owners I had plenty of time to either be completely bored out of my head or learn to use what was around me to learn and entertain myself. Most people like going to malls to watch people's behavior, I have a soft spot for laundromats (makes since...mostly grew up around them). I've seen people drive up in new cars to wash one load of laundry, and I've seen a family of four walk a mile to do five loads and sit back to share a Coke. People fascinate me. Which is odd because I'm a true introvert.

In middle school it took me close to a week to make one friend. I hated lunch time because I would have to sit by myself since the people I did know had their own friends to hang out with. So I would rush through lunch so I could... wait in the hall for the bell to ring. Yeah, that was so much better. It wasn't until I noticed another girl doing the same thing every day that something clicked in me and I knew that I had a choice - either suck it up and make a complete fool out of myself, or sit there and be miserable possibly for the rest of my life. So... one day, taking a deep breath, I walked out of the lunch room, across the hall to the clock where the girl was standing, took the spot next to her and... nothing. We stood there for a bit before I said, "Hi." To make matters worse, it took awhile before he turned to me and said, "Hi." Huh... who would have thought... two introverts having a conversation in the middle of a middle school hallway - wow! That conversation started a friendship that lasted so many many years and pulled us both through heartbreaks into our adult years.

Now I'm not saying that one moment cured me. In fact... it was a fluke! A friend of mine from work invited me to his and his family's church and I of course said, "Uh... sure?" So for some strange reason with two kids in tow I went and... almost didn't get out of the car. I waited until I saw his car before even turning the engine off - did I mention I waited half an hour? Much later the subject came up and he said that he couldn't believe that I'm an introvert... that I did so well walking into his church where I didn't know anyone but him. Ah ha! That was the difference... I knew him and his wife - I wasn't alone.

I can get physical ill just thinking about going to new places and meeting new people. Even when I'm going to a family gathering I'm so nervous I have to try to capture the butterflies in my stomach. I've backed away from friend's weddings, family reunions, and yes... even a birthday party or two. Crowds just do me in. So today I have two challenges... one is to go visit with family who's only in town for the morning and going to see U2 tonight. The first is family who I haven't seen in quite awhile and the second... well... c'mon - it's U2 and I've waited over 20 YEARS to see them live!!!

So I guess when we talk about creative people being introverts, its really true... but that doesn't mean we should allow it to hinder our lives. Maybe today will be another step in a cure... or at the very least a balm for this little introvert's soul.

As I stumbled through the house this morning in an effort to get to the office to make the executive decision of coffee or no coffee, I really wasn't expecting to find anything exciting in my email - that'll teach me.

After spending a week making corrections to my manuscript and the last two nights of my deadline staying up into the early morning hours, I was finally able to press 'send' and give it back to my rep at the publisher's. So of course I wasn't expecting to hear anything from them for awhile - that'll teach me.

This morning I opened my email and there it was... my galley for The Rain Song. I couldn't believe it. In fact I sat and stared at the email before I was finally able to figure out that the link I was pressing was as straightforward as I thought and therefore had to remember my login and password. Uh, I did mention this was precoffee... right? So I finally was able to pull it up and... wow! What a thrill to actually see it in printer format!!!

So, as I prepare myself for the rest of the day, I know that even though I have a week to go over it again to make sure the spacing and whatnot is correct, it won't take me that long and could in fact have it done by the end of the week if not the end of today.

Today my wish is this - That everyone is able to fulfill their dream... no matter what it may be.