No, I didn't think that I'd forgotten how to write. Rather, I worried that I might not have anything to say.

Those of you who know me might think that is a perfectly absurd thing for me to waste my time worrying about. But so it is and so it has been.

You see, even though The MicroEnterprise Journal has been on hiatus, I have still been watching and listening. I have not been seeing much to inspire me with confidence in the notion that our nation's policymakers are any closer to understanding the vast potential economic resource that is the American microbusiness.

I might have been tempted to apologize to you for taking this long break, except that you haven't really been missing much.

Microbusinesses are still being largely ignored in the policy arena. In fact, if anything, they are being even more thoroughly ignored now than they were before the entire economic house of cards collapsed in September 2008.

Microbusinesses are being so steadfastly ignored that I actually spent a few minutes, about a month ago, considering the possibility of simply shutting down this publication for good.

But then I realized something.

At the risk of sounding immodest, I stopped hearing about microbusinesses on Capitol Hill when I stopped writing about microbusinesses and Capitol Hill. I don't think that's a coincidence.

So, as matters have evolved, this lengthy hiatus has been even better for me than I had intended. It allowed me to get some rest and to get some personal matters in order. I really needed to do that.

It also gave me a chance to see that I really was making a difference.

It's not all that often that you get that sort of It's A Wonderful Life moment. It pretty much guaranteed that this newsletter would not die a premature death.

It's good to be back.