I haven’t been very engaging lately. Sincerest apologies. If it makes you feel any better, all of the people I interact with in real life would say the same thing. The past six weeks have almost been completely consumed by some major work projects. The kind of projects that cause you to end up in the office on Memorial Day and eat both lunch and dinner at your desk most days of the week. For the most part, any time not at work has been spent sleeping, except in the case of this past week where I spent most of my time *not* sleeping because my dreams about having to start all over four days before the end of the project stressed me out more than work did.

But guess what? I hit my deadline.

I don’t think text could possibly convey the excitement and relief that fill that last sentence. No amount of all caps-ing or bolding or multiple exclamation marks could possibly cover the depth of the sheer joy that fills me when I type that. It’s like taking your first bite of cheesecake while sitting barefoot under the shade of a tree on a warm day while your favorite song plays in the background and the person you love most gives you a scalp massage. Seriously, it’s that good. So guess what: I hit my deadline, I hit my deadline, I hit my deadline.

I’ve made it! Even more so, I’ve made it with most of my lucidity and emotional stability intact. And like male pattern baldness, the upfront loss of sanity is minimal. When I eventually lose all my marbles somewhere down the line, you can look back to May 2008 and say, “And that’s when her proverbial bald spot started. I should have seen this bad toupee coming. Good thing the cheesecake was worth it.”