With great trepidation and very little fanfare

Life is funny, isn't it?

It's so easy to get caught up in the thick of thin things. But it's also easy to get swallowed up by the really big things in life as well. And I'm not talking about big things like "Will American Idol even be watchable without Simon?" Or "Will the Cougars finally, finally get out of the stinking first round of the Big Dance?"

While those questions are definitely biggies, I've been thinking more about the only big things that really matter in the end. These gigantic monstrosities can make us truly happy or wrenchingly heartbroken, lifted to see new heights and cracked wide open to a world of horrifyingly unpredictable new possibilities. The big things in life are always relationships. Person connected to person.

Parent to child. Brother to sister. Friend to friend.

And so, after a long hiatus, these thoughts have brought me back to the blogging world.

I know I'm not the greatest about keeping in touch. I know I take many of the relationships in my life way too much for granted.

I hope that if I come here and share a few thoughts with the world, there might be one or two stronger connections in my life. And that, in the end, is the best thing of all. Freaking huge, really. If you think about it.

So ... do you think Idol can survive post Simon? I mean really.