CLOSING TIME

Last Show, Mary Tyler Moore, March 1977

Closing time. Time for you to go out, go out into the world.
So gather up your jackets, and move it to the exits, I hope you have found a friend.
Closing time. Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Lyrics by Semisonic.

On the verge of my three-year blogging anniversary, I have announcement to make. Yes folks. Sadly, after nearly three years and 400 posts, it’s time. There are a lot of reasons why, but basically it boils down to two. First, I’m going to dedicate myself to finishing my book and putting out a quality proposal. I need to do this. Even if I don’t get discovered, I need to say to myself that I tried and did everything I could. So I will be devoting all of my writing time to the book. Secondly, my primary reason for blogging, thankfully, doesn’t exist anymore. Three years ago, I was a real mental mess. Life was throwing curve ball after curve ball and I was swinging and missing at each one. It all became overwhelming. You know the stories; no reason to rehash them here. I desperately needed an outlet to vent. My therapist suggested I use my creative side and write. Greek and Kvetch introduced me to blogging, and the rest as they say is history.

I think I’ve come a long way as a person these past three years. I think I’m a better person and certainly a lot happier. I know myself a lot better. Oh sure, I still suck at dating and figuring out women, but how many of us are truly good at that anyway? I still have a few stories to tell before I go, and I’ll continue writing until the end of the year. And at some point, I will be back.

I really never expected anyone to read this blog. The response has been very satisfying for me. Although these numbers represent one day’s traffic in Greek’s world, I can’t believe I’ve had over 160,000 hits and nearly 65,000 reads. And I’ve ‘met’ so many wonderful people out here. I truly want to thank those of you who have been with me and put up with me pretty much from the start. I could never have imagined making such great friends along the way. Don’t be strangers and always keep in touch. So special thanks to BBB, Belle, Cat, GFF, Greek, Miss Midwestern, and Sass. I think perhaps it’s fitting that my first post started with a Mary Tyler Moore quote and this post shall, too. In the last episode of the seven-year series, big tough Lou Grant uttered these famous words to his newsroom friends and colleagues, “I treasure you people.”