Welcome back.

Next week was supposed to be a really big week for me. And it is, but not in the way I anticipated.

I've been quiet for months. I've been busy, bored and lazy for large chunks of that time, but that's not the whole story. I've also been keeping a secret for much of this time, and working on the right way to reveal it.

As recently as two weeks ago, I was preparing to announce that I'm running for state representative. I was planning on telling you next week that my frustration with the leadership of our Democratic Party has grown to the point where it can only be fixed from within. I was planning to tell you that Party loyalty by itself isn't solving Iowa's problems and the only way to get progressive legislation was to show our legislators, on both sides of the aisle, that we're willing to fight for it.

Unfortunately, as it sometimes does, life got in the way.

Months ago, Laura accepted a year-long residency at a pharmacy in Maquoketa, 200 miles away from our home in Des Moines. Sometimes the only way to realize what you have is to lose it, and when Laura moved out it hit me in a hurry. Eight days ago, I asked her to marry me, and she accepted. At the end of July, I'm moving to Maquoketa to be with her. This means my campaign will, at the very least, have to wait.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what it means. I have no idea what I'll be doing for work after the end of the month, no idea what my political involvement (if any) will be, and no idea where I'll be going home to after our year in Maquoketa is over. I'd like to come back to Des Moines, but I'm not tied to it anymore.

But I do know this: I no longer have a reason to be quiet. So this blog, with a new name and look, is back. Thanks for checking it out.

KL