Out on a limb.

I ran into an old friend last week; actually a former boss. We both had kids running at the junior high track meet, so it was family affair. It was one of those instances that made me want to smack myself in the head and say, "Why didn't we do a better job of keeping in touch?" You know those moments? Man, they're frustrating.

Of course, the nice part about it is that the reunion is special, when you haven't kept in touch. We got together for coffee on Saturday morning for the full catch-up. Seriously, it had been almost 10 years since we had a good conversation, and our conversations were always pretty deep. We talked about my book, of course, and he tried to come up with ways to help elevate my profile as an author.

It all came back to how far I'm willing to stick out my neck. We discussed the puzzling appeal of some national TV personalities at each end of the political spectrum. If I were willing to drive a really big stake into the ground and then make a whole lot of noise about that stake, I suppose I might get some more attention. It might not be all good attention, but I'm sure you know what they say about "bad publicity."

This line of discussion generated some enthusiastic head-nodding from both of us. And then our shoulders sagged a little bit. Because I'm not willing to do that to my family. Not yet, at least. Maybe I just haven't found my cause. Hm.

Now that's an interesting notion.