The Century Mark

100 blogs?

Wow!

It seems like just 154 days ago that this ride began.

And here we are 64,031 words later, at least that’s what my computer tells me.

I can still remember my first day in the blogosphere, sitting at the computer, basically writing a story for myself.

I can also remember my second day.

And my third day.

But it was the fifth day that really opened my eyes.   That was the day that I wrote a blog titled, “Mom and Me”.

It was about my 80-year old mother.

At the time she had just moved into an assisted living facility about 15 minutes from our house.

We had tried to have her live with us, but let’s just say, it didn’t work out.

Over the next five months, I wrote about my mom many more times.

I wrote about our weekly Tuesday lunches.

I wrote about her joining a choir. 

But the subject that got the most attention were the stories I wrote about her bipolar condition.

The feedback and support I received absolutely blew me away.

I have always enjoyed writing and I have always enjoyed telling stories, but it wasn’t until this blog that I realized I could do both at the same time.

Unfortunately the circumstances of that revelation was the end of a 25-year career in the world of TV production.

By becoming a member of the unemployed I discovered emotions that I had never felt before.

Some of them were sad.  Some were depressed, but to be perfectly honest, most of them have been very positive.

I have fallen in love with a true sense of freedom.

As I mentioned yesterday, I am just now finally returning to the working world by picking up a couple of local freelance jobs.

And that’s a good thing.

But I have really grown to love my life as a stay-at-home dad.

I love the opportunity that I have had to spend countless hours with my family.

I love the opportunity to be the singer in a brand new neighborhood rock band.

But the thing that I love the most is the person I have become in the last five months.

I started seeing a therapist back in the early part of 2009 after losing my job.

Despite an optimism for life, watching your career get flushed down the toilet can be pretty depressing.

One of the first goals that we set in therapy was to have me become more present with my family.

Many times I was physically there, but my mind was wandering.

This was definitely the case when I was working.

My kids would say something like -- Hey Dad -- and I would say Pittsburgh.

Or they would say -- Do you want to (fill in the blank)... -- and I would say Tuesday.

Not my proudest moment.

So actually connecting with my family was a lot more difficult than it sounded.

Enter the blog.

As pathetic as this may be, I probably needed this little unpaid writing gig to become who or what I have become.

There's that damn, "everything happens for a reason" cliche again.

Pretty much every minute of every day now is spent thinking, “Would that make a good blog?”

And based on the wide range of subject matter I have covered in the last 99 entries -- from Spelling Bees to Judaism, my appearance on CNN to gambling on the Super Bowl -- I think it is working.

Not every one of my blogs is headed to Cooperstown, but the fact that I am actually paying attention is an accomplishment beyond words.

It has never been my goal to become the most popular unemployed guy in the world, but I must say it still makes me feel like a kid on Christmas morning when I get a new follower on Facebook or Twitter.

I truly love sharing my stories with you, but even more, I love when you share your stories with me.

And isn't that what this is all about?

As we enter my new century of blogs, I have a little request.

If you like my writing, send my link to one person.

If you love my writing, make it a double.

That’s it.

If you don’t, then don’t.

I promise I won’t put a curse on you.

Here’s to another 100 blogs.