November 9, 2006
The Bachelor
On a related note, I have all kinds of ridiculously exciting news to share, but as usual I'm supposed to avoid spilling the beans for longer than I'd like. The past few months have been quite a blur for me on a number of levels and there are suddenly a lot of amazing opportunities being put on my plate. I've been sharing a lot of the details with my family of late and it's been really rewarding just to see their reaction to what's going on in my life.
My mom continues to be my main confidant, my aunt never ceases being my biggest supporter all the way from Milwaukee, my grandpa was downright giddy Tuesday night when he took me out to dinner and I told him about my trip to New York, and I can sense a feeling of pride (and maybe even a tinge of jealously) from my uncle over what's become of the baseball-loving monster he helped create many years ago. Plus, my dad seems thrilled about the fact that I'll soon have business cards.
I'm not sure exactly what I expected to happen as a result of starting this blog back in 2002, although certainly it wasn't this. There was a time not so long ago that I wasn't sure what direction I was headed, because the paths I chose to start out on proved to be dead ends. Through luck, skill, hard work or perhaps some combination of all three and some other things, I ended up stumbling upon a different route that has proven to be perfect for me.
I've never been happier with my life than I am at this very moment, both in terms of where it is and where it appears to be headed, and one of the best parts about it is being able to see a sense of pride and excitement in the people close to me who've been along for the entire ride. There are plenty of ways to measure success and accomplishment in life, but few things can top seeing someone you love genuinely thrilled for you.
Whenever I write an entry like this one, I fear that it comes across as bragging, when that's far from my intention. Perhaps it's silly now that thousands of people stop by here each day, but in many ways I still view this blog as a place for me to talk about whatever it is that's on my mind and a way for me to keep people up to speed on what's happening in my life. More than anything else, an entry like today's is about me simply saying, "Wow, I can't believe how things are going."
I was watching a John Mayer concert on television last night (save the snide comments, because I'm a big fan) and he said something to the audience that struck me as incredibly sincere and poignant. After singing a song from his debut album, which was released five years ago and turned him from an unknown to a star, Mayer said: "Thank you for giving me a life in music. It's all I ever wanted and it's all I'll ever need."
My own journey basically started five years ago as well and as that first blog entry disappears further and further into the rear-view mirror I think more and more about how much the people who read this each day have meant to me. Mayer probably says a lot of things to his audience between songs without giving any of them a second thought, but what he said couldn't possibly have summed up my feelings right now any better.
Wherever my current path takes me, however many other paths I end up traveling in the future, and whatever happens from here on out, I owe an awful lot to this blog and to the people who gave me my first audience. Thank you for giving me a life in writing. It's all I ever wanted and it's all I'll ever need.
