Thank You, Patch Community

Based upon my history with The Patch and the horrific frequency with which I seem to post blogs, it should be no secret that I love to write. (For debate is whether I have any talent, but let's leave that for another time, shall we?) I enjoy the process of thinking about life in all it's rather challenging glory and then committing my thoughts to the page (or screen) and turning them loose on the populace.

Sometimes what I write is well received, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it strikes a nerve with folks and they let me know their thoughts on the same topic. Sometimes, my blogs are like a tree in the woods when no one is there.

But always, the process is fun: think, write, post, engage. I wouldn't change a thing.

When I first started blogging for The Patch, it was with the idea of expanding my "brand" (a term I have learned to hate with a passion), of becoming a digital version of one of my childhood heroes, Lewis Grizzard. Having submitted proposals for a weekly column to our local newspapers (and having been shot down more often than Snoopy), the idea of a blog on a local site was highly appealing, especially since the vetting process was fairly easy. I was looking forward to writing for an audience.

Over time, however, I came to appreciate just how much the audience matters. Your kindness during the my grandfather's illness and death this past summer was moving beyond words; your willingness to laugh with (or at) me as I stumble through fatherhood; your ferocity of intellect when it comes to discussing politics or religion; in all things, you make the blog worth writing.

And I just wanted to say thank you.

Thanks for reading, for laughing, for caring. Thanks for sharing your voice on everything from the silly to the sublime.

Thanks for being a community.

With the one year anniversary of the Loganville-Grayson Patch coming up, there will probably be another, more appropriate time for me to say these things. But as I've learned, you don't know what the next moment holds, so you'd better say it while it's on your mind.

So maybe you've been feeling under-appreciated lately, or maybe you just needed a kind word as a reminder that there are still some good things in life. Let this serve as your spirit booster.

I am grateful for all of you--for being a community that has embraced me and shaped me as a writer.

Thanks.