My first post about Six Thousand posts

This is a copy of the post I started to write. I didn't like it. Instead of sending it to the circular file I am sharing it here.

The hard part about reaching a milestone like this is trying to decide if I after all this time I have anything worth sharing. In theory you'd think that after 6,000 posts I would have some incredible stories to share, some sort of distilled wisdom that I could offer. Or at least that is what my ego would like.

It would be nice to stand here in front of you and be able to give back as much as I have received from blogging. But at the moment I seem to be fresh out of stories, or at least stories that I think will meet the challenge I have established.

So since I seem to be somewhat tongue tied I am going back to the well and see if I can't keep throwing some heat over the plate. And if I can't bring it, well maybe I can fool the batter into swinging at some bad pitches.

This past weekend I sat down and spoke with my father about life in a way that we haven't done all that many times. It was a conversation between father and son, but in some ways it was like speaking to a dear friend.

I suppose that it is not all that surprising. It has taken a while for me to catch up in some areas, life experience that is. I am not a newlywed or a new father anymore. Sure there are many people who have been doing it far longer than I have, but I earned my stripes a while back.

So it was nice to see dad relax and share a few tales with me about his experiences that I never had heard before. It was one of those moments where it was clear that he views me as an adult. Don't misunderstand, I don't feel like he has treated me like a child for years. But there has always been that line, that place we didn't tread.

It never bothered me not to go there, probably because I didn't spend any time
thinking about it. But it was really cool to wander over to that side of the
yard and see what sort of trees he had in the yard.

Six thousand posts. Whoa. What the hell have I written about. What have I done with my time. What have I accomplished and what does it all mean.

I'll answer the questions by posing a different question. What is the definition of a good deal?

Answer: A good deal is the one that you feel good about. It is that simple.

The blogging has received its share of criticism. People have told me more than once that they don't understand it or see any benefit from it. People have told me that they think that I must spend far too much time at the computer.

Let them say what they will. I feel good about it. Blogging has given me an outlet to express myself that I have come to love. It has helped me get through some very tough times in my life.

Blogging has helped me to chronicle some very special memories of my children's lives. I have written snapshots that I never would have had.