Maryann leaves BaltAmour

Maryann James

I think I ran into Maryann James’ “BaltAmour” blog over at the Baltimore Sun about a year ago. She was refreshing to read. And at times she actually gave me a few shout-outs and mentioned a few of my posts. Some of my readers  even read her stuff. In fact I remember Greg over at Dissonance saying Maryann had a great name for her blog — BaltAmour. Quite clever.

But I’m sad to say that I read today that Maryann is leaving her blog and in fact no one will be replacing her.  Having a lot more to do these days at the Sun ( in these crazy media times of uncertainty, I bet she does), Maryann has left the building. And having found love herself, I can only imagine that this exit is a little bittersweet.

Read her farewell here. I hope it stays up a while longer.

I wish her all the best…

My best friend’s wedding

I wasn’t there for it.
Actually it was really a Justice of the Peace thing and she plans to have a real ceremony sometime later in the year. I really hope she does because I feel like a rite of passage has now come and gone without my witnessing it. The day we both thought I would see first — marriage. It’s a rite of passage not because of her being a new bride but because the two of us, now in our third decade of life, had a pact to be there for one another for things such as this.

I wanted to be there for her. But I couldn’t. She lives a few states away and our schedules are impossible. It’s weird considering her a wife now. It was also weird at first seeing her as a mother but when she had her son I saw she was born to be one. Now that she has added wife to her title, that’s one that will take some adjusting. I remember all our talks about marriage, dating…how men “just didn’t get it.”

Now she’s wed. And she is the last of my close friends to take this leap. I wish her well but wonder how long it will take before it might just bother me — being the last. Maybe it already does? Maybe it doesn’t matter. I can keep up the most brave face I can possibly muster, and convince myself that I’m still OK with being single. But I waver. I am also just human.