Situation #99

OK, here’s the situation…my parents went away on a week’s vacation…

No, seriously, here’s the situation…this is going to be one of those posts where I have no idea what I want to write, so I’m just going to write. See, Sunday, February 26^th is the one-year anniversary of my blog. About two months ago, I realized that I could conceivably reach my 100^th post on my first anniversary, really without planning it.  The Accountant in me is pleased that the stars and planets have aligned to reach two milestones on the same day. And as I’ve gotten closer to the “big day”, I’ve gotten closer to the 100^th post. This just happens to be post #99. And I’ve hit a topic dry spell.  It’s a situation…Situation #99.

My 100^th post is already written. Just like a TV series, I’ve done a “Best Of…” post. I’ve taken lines and quotes and segments from my previous 98 posts in a two-part episode: Posts #100 and #101. And like every retrospective episode, as went through those 98 posts, and as I re-lived the journey this blog has traveled, I really have to admit that I never thought I’d get to this point. It’s not that I had doubts; it’s that I had no plans. I didn’t set out to write posts for a certain time period, or have a certain number of posts in a month. I really didn’t even have a plan on what this blog would be about. It was really more of a try-and-see-what-happens idea. I’ve always enjoyed writing…in fact, a co-worker called my work e-mails “wordy.”  I tried to defend myself by saying that in dealing with complex Accounting concepts, sometimes there isn’t a short answer, and in fact all of my e-mails are as concise as I can make them. But…I’m wordy. That’s the hat I wear. And really, I am wordy. Several of my posts have been long and could have been longer - much longer! I have posts that have little side posts just waiting to be written; continuations and deep-dives.  But, more than anything, this blog has been kind of wide open, and I’ve enjoyed it.  I like to think that one can read the enjoyment in some of the posts I’ve written.

And as with any good retrospective, you can’t relive the journey without revisiting “where it all started.” My first post:  “Why Me? Why Now?”  The closing paragraph of that post, 364 days ago, was this:

"Those who know me know how much I love to drive and to travel. This is the start of what I hope will be a fun, crazy, inspirational, hilarious journey where, as cheesy as it may sounds, we’ll laugh, we’ll shed a tear, and in the end, we’ll all walk a little taller and stride a little more confidently. I’m gonna be all over the board here, no topic avoided, nothing off limits. We’ll fly by the seats of our pants, up mountains and through valleys, and I hope to have a few passengers along for the ride!"

Again, over the past year, I didn’t sit down with a specific plan of what to write. And yet, I think my first 98 posts have really fallen well into this theme.  I’ve surprised myself. And over the year, I have gotten some great feedback. I’ve made people laugh, I’ve made people think. I’ve had people make me think, and I’ve had people make me laugh. Those who know me know that I am very humble, and I have my share of self-confidence issues at times. But I can’t help but look back over this past year; these past 99 posts, and feel like I’ve done something I can be proud of. 

 

SO…where does the road lead me? What does year two bring?  Answer:  more of the same.  I still have no specific plans; no set route. Wherever the road leads me, that’s where I’ll be. Life doesn’t stop and time keeps on moving.  

Situation # 99 – solved!

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In celebration of my blog anniversary, I am posting two classic poems that inspired me to write years ago; and which seem to fit the general “theme” of my blog:

The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear,

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night – Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.