You have now come to realize that Dan Leone is so deeply faceted that if you miss a few posts, you are guaranteed to throw out a piece of the puzzle. You may have noticed the non-writer writing. Perhaps you have noticed that I have no problems using my Baby Goats to stoke my joke repertoire in order to get both of my reader’s attentions (if not affections). You may have seen, buried deep in nothing I have yet written, the rational skeptic atheist who cringes at the mere mention of gods and other fantasies and superstitions. Perhaps if you were paying close attention to some of the posts I have still haven’t worked up the courage to write, a bleeding heart liberal who has transformed my feelings for George Bush from mere annoyance at Americans to downright hatred at what he has done and not done to this country.And, of course, you have seen the Dan Leone mired in self-pity recently with the stunning news of my father’s illness and how he has been assigned an expiration date of 2 years. The reason for this is easy to explain. I have grown to love both of you and I sincerely respect and seek out your opinions on everything. Whether it is how to deal with death or what book you are reading or what music you listen to when not-writing at 3AM. Your opinions are as important to me, perhaps more so than the “real” people in my life. I love that you share with me your experiences. I crave to know your day-to-day and how you manage it all. I especially love the fact that your opinions are so very different than mine.
The blogging world is filled with people that visit other’s blogs only to want it reciprocated. The “circle of life” of blogging involves many “drive-bys” and “tag-your-its” designed to get people to their site. This is mostly fine with me as it is part of the social networking schema that we all need to follow, otherwise we might as well write words on a piece of paper and throw them off a cliff. We crave this society of moms, dads, Christians, Atheists, Liberals, Conservatives, friends.
As I am sure both of you will agree, if somehow the words became only a one way street for me and I could only read them and never write them again, then I would still be visiting your blogs. It is what I need to get through my day. It is how I manage it all.
For now, the pity party is over. Of course, you will see me give you periodic updates on my father’s health and how we are coping. But, no more “What the fuck do I do now’s” or “Why me’s?” …for the time being! [wink, wink]
So, to both of you, I send a heartfelt thank you. Thank you for being there and thank you for caring and thank you for giving me something to aspire to.
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