My 3000th Post

Today is something of an event for me and The Tempest. This particular post is number 3,000. It has taken 14 years and two months to reach this milestone. Pretty cool.

Looking back over so vast a catalogue of work is interesting because it tells a story about the writer. I’ve gone through phases here. I had a lot to say about politics when Obama got elected, and during the explosion of Trump on the scene. I have often railed against our foreign policy. I have terrorized Democrats for their bizarre attachment to social engineering asshattery. I have shamed Republicans for their world class hypocrisy and the allergy they have developed for the truth. I have had the time of my life making fun of Presidential debates because…well, who wouldn’t? But recently, I haven’t had much to say on the subject of politics. I have grown tired of its toxicity. Plus, the natural contrarian in me resists talking about the things that literally every person on earth seems to be talking about at the exact same time.

I’ve written a ton about Maine. Unlike politics, I never seem to tire of the subject. We spend roughly 15% of our life up there which makes the other 85% much more tolerable. I’ve noticed that the tone of my posts from Maine are much more playful, more optimistic. There’s a lesson there.

I’ve written a lot about the difficulties of life. There’s the blow by blow account of what it was like to endure the death of my mother and caring for my dad after she was gone. I wrote about health difficulties. I shared the heart wrenching pain of losing a dog, of holding Molly when she died.

I wrote about what it was like to be a financial advisor when the stock markets were going to hell. 

I wrote of my frustrations with church and my admiration for the same.

I wrote a lot about my love of baseball—which always guaranteed low page view numbers.

I published lots of short stories in this space.

Mostly I wrote about whatever happened to be on my mind at the time. I have found this very therapeutic. Getting things off your chest by writing about it and then sitting back and watching people react to what you’ve written is pretty cool actually.

But, holy cow I’ve had some whacked opinions over the years. Some of the stuff I wrote years ago I shutter at today. When you write your opinions down 3000 times, some of them come back to haunt you, and when they do you develop some well earned humility. You realize that no matter how strongly you feel about something, it doesn’t mean you’re right. Your perspectives change with time, experience and new information. But, you don’t go back and erase what you wrote. It’s part of who you were at the time. No use rewriting history.

So, here we are. 3000 opinions, stories, speeches and tirades.

Thanks for reading!