Thanks to Readers, Followers, Mentors

And a special shoutout to subscribers

Writing on a blog started in earnest in January 2022 for me. I discovered Medium, a blog site, and moved relevant blogs to this site on Common Sage. I have been gifted with new friends and old friends who follow and comment.

The friendly neighborhood of fellow travelers is an unexpected benefit. I am grateful for learning that some experiences are widely shared — the travails of aging, for example. Other experiences are offered vicariously. I can travel the globe or experience various points-of-view through reading others, or sharing my own adventures.

Like always, writing is a way to discover what one thinks.

I value those who model great writing or edit writing to honor the craft.

The spot one finds oneself on the internet can be its own little ecosystem. I try not to get caught up in the meta, but it can be hard to avoid — just like the Kardashians. Maybe reading about it and them are guilty pleasures, but the experience leaves one empty afterwards.

Writing frequently improves one’s craft. Feedback improves one’s craft. Researching topics and writing cogently about them requires thoughtfulness.

The advantage of writing publicly is also remembering the gifts of the moment. As I frequently say, my memory used to be a steel trap and now it is a rusty sieve.

That rusty sieve hasn’t posted so much in the past month, but I am about to make up for lost time, as some of my blog posts will be entered here after sitting, neglected.

This is a sweet time of life. The sturm and drang are mostly gone (that which is internal, anyway). Life is a balance of time with family, traveling and new adventures, and relishing old and new friendships. I have some work–as much or as little as I want–which calls a bit on health and human services administration. I enjoy being a pretend patient for medical students to practice on and I evaluate medical student admission tests. I babysit my granddaughter on occasion. I have some volunteer connections that combine social justice with spirituality. I sing in a good gospel choir, unchaining years of Swedish stoicism. I have decided writing is my avocation, which means I spend money on great writers’ workshops in great places.

Thanks for your time, the most precious commodity we all have.