Marcia (Wife), Claire (Daughter), and Me at an annual fundraiser for Claire’s Chi Omega chapter.

Some of you have asked, most of you have not. That’s not surprising since the readership of the Poobah has dropped considerably. Life waxes and wanes. That is the way things work.

I’ve been doing this gig for 7 1/2 years. That’s an epoch in blog time. I’m not sure how many posts I’ve done, but it has been in the thousands. I’m not sure how many visitors I’ve had, but it is in the high hundreds of thousands (I even got one from Antarctica once). That’s not bad for a guy with a keyboard and a loud mouth.

My production has dropped too. This is where I should say something about all the fun I’ve had and the close friends I’ve made, and that would be true. But most importantly, this blog has been my friend too. It has helped me vent and given me a new-found respect that an astonishing number of people read what I had to say — regularly — even deeply personal things aside from important (and sometimes unimportant) things that go on outside of me.

If bloggers have a steady complaint it is that life too often intrudes on their writing. Relationships need tending. Jobs get in the way. It’s the way of the world. Sometimes the tumult of personal life and the lives of so many people and so many events  outside just converge and make one tired. I’ve given advice to many a blogger just getting started. I have two pieces for them. Always write for yourself and when it isn’t fun anymore, stop.

It’s not as much fun anymore. These days the idea of writing is more appealing than actual writing these days. The words don’t come and when they do, they aren’t good enough — better a little of something good than a lot of something bad. After all, I can’t rage at the world forever. I always promised myself that when I reached that point I’d stop. I’ve reached that point.

I’m not sure if this is a retirement or a hiatus. Perhaps the spark will return and perhaps not. If you’d like to know if it does, please drop me an email or hit the subscribe button over there. I’ll keep a list.

If this is the last time I post or if this is the last time you stop in, I appreciate your patronage. I hope you got at least a small taste of the joy it’s been for me.

Fellow bloggers, update your link lists.

I’m out of here. See you around the intertubes.