Ode to Laurie's Three Dog Blog and Amy's Blog to the Bone

She doesn't know it but I'm a lurker on Laurie's wonderful Three Dog Blog. I am not a dog-person at all, but reading her blog makes me realize I might have been in another life. I love her adventures that aren't dog related, too: the Russian Series, the Birth of a Hack Series, her Family Photos Stories, and yes, I even love her Walks with the Dogs Stories.

I found her blog by skipping off a link on Amy's Blog to the Bone. I am in a new phase of my life, having just retired from over 30 years of teaching high school science. Now I work for a Paramedic-EMT Association called Memsa and I actually get breaks and a lunch hour in this job. I usually read, but one day I didn't have a book and since I've read ALL of Amy's Blog, I skipped over to Three Dog Blog and printed it out, all 136 pages of it. And I read it all, and by the time I'd reached the end, there was more up on the site to read!

So you could say I was hooked. Of course, the BIG difference between Amy and Laurie and me if they are Real Writers, and I'm a Hobby Writer. Which means I know good writing when I read it.

And Laurie got me thinking how interesting reading about three dogs and two people taking walks in the rain can be. I wondered if my very different life with one husband and two cats could be at all interesting. Not that I can compare my writing to Laurie's or Amy's. But at least I feel emboldened to try.

I have a connection to Amy because she's married to my brother, and I love her and her wonderful family. She's been a blessing for my brother and all of us in our family. She devoted her life to the girls and is just now back into a more personal adventure. I'm proud of her--to the end of time.

And I have a connection to Laurie, however tenuous, because Warren and I started out in the grand city of Minneapolis over 33 years ago. I can relate to the places in her blog, Duluth--I used to take my Hopkin's 6th grade students to a camp north of Duluth, the bridge that came down--I drove over it one month earlier while driving from my Dad's place in St. Paul to my girlfriend, Carol's, house in Richfield. She is living that alter-life I might have had, if we had stayed in Minneapolis instead of heading south in search of radio jobs for Warren.

So thank you, Laurie and Amy. I'm gonna give it a try!