A Host of Milestones

A little-known personal milestone just passed me by this past Monday, one of several major milestones that have come and gone this year.

This past Monday, July 16, marked the 10-year anniversary of this little blog. I cringe when I read the early years.  #Painfullyawkward

June 28 marked the 20th anniversary of when I embraced Jesus as my Savior.  #Bestdecisionofmylife

June marked 15 years since I graduated from high school. #Haventbeentoareunionyet.

July marked 15 years since I bought my first laptop, which I was still using until about a month ago when I finally bought a new one.  #RIPCompaq

January marked 5 years since I started my current job. #Adulting.

In honor of all those milestones and in honor of 10 years of my blog, here's the top 10 most-read entries:

10) "I Don't Pretend to Understand," an entry I wrote after my friend Jonathan passed away 6 years ago.

9) "Grief," also another entry I wrote immediately after Jonathan died.

8) "He Met Me in a Stable," a more recent entry, written this past fall in the wake of panic attacks and general mental mayhem.

7) "To My Niece", a letter I wrote to my niece several years ago just before she was baptized.

6) "Always Winter, Never Christmas," inspired by an early snow this past October.

5) "Don't Ever Go To Bed Without Knowing Where This Is," words spoken by a Kenyan woman that still pierce my soul all these years later.

4) "Cancer and a Cup of Water," reflections on the weight of the broken world in which we live.

3) "Don't Wait to Celebrate," a realization that I needed to celebrate the life I have instead of lamenting the one I didn't have.

2) "He Noticed the Thief," written during a season of life when I was experiencing a tremendous amount of physical pain.

And the most-read entry was from 4 years ago, shortly after my 4th grade teacher passed away:

1) "Back In the Day When I Learned How to Play the Accordion"

Thanks to my faithful readers.  I can't say for certain but I do believe the award of "Most Dedicated Reader" goes to my brother Josh.  I'll take bets that he comments on this one within 24 hours.  I wrote an entry awhile back, and within an hour he texted me about it, commenting. I texted him back a little amazed at the speed with which he was aware that I had written something and said, "Dude, what do you do - sit around and refresh my blog on an hourly basis, looking to see when I write a new entry??" He said, "Nah, but a daily check wouldn't be an understatement."

Who knows where we'll go in the next 10 years, but I don't doubt there will be plenty of more stories to document.