Old Enough to Vote

 

While this picture doesn't apply to this post, please know that
Alice Loxton is a wonderful follow for those interested in history
and this is her latest book.

A birthday is being celebrated today.

There will be no cake, no cards, nothing more than this post.

But now they're old enough to step into a polling place and go to college and begin to gain some independence.

They can drive, and we've aimed the car down the highway pretty consistently.

How we got to 18 is amazing. There were many times I thought it was over. It felt like the inevitable split with rebellion featuring diva behavior.

The time of birth was 7 a.m. on Aug 17, 2006.

And "Exit 55" came into existence. The first post was about breaking ground on the new Yankee Stadium the day before. I was gutted watching the ceremony.

Post number one

It's funny in hindsight that I called the first post "And Away We Go" because I often use that phrase during game broadcasts. The great Jackie Gleason would often say that during his legendary variety show on CBS and my father loved "The Great One." Thus "And Away We Go" is often said as a little nod to my dad.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my mother, who read posts occasionally. That's one of the amazing things about this. I never knew -- and still don't -- who was reading. I'm often surprised and mildly embarrassed when people say they're reading.

We've seen so much in these 18 years and I'm not sure I'm prepared to try to explain everything. Obviously, we've seen life roll by. There have been births and deaths and divorces and marriages and relationships and breakups and growth and bad health and storms and triumphs and deep moments and open discussions.

And I'm mostly satisfied with what I've shared.

However, I know where I was 18 years ago and how the years have impacted me. I know the changes I've seen. 

Some things, of course, have not changed. The things I've written about have evolved.

Where I worked and what I did have evolved as well. Yes, I'm still with WGCH. I'm still with the Renegades. But there's so much around that that has changed.

I had no real social media presence at that time, with the exception of starting this blog. Now I'm on MyBookXInstaSnapTok. Or whatever.

In truth, I started the blog because several friends had one and said I should try it. However, I refused to do it until I knew I was committed to it.

Now, I'm the only one still doing it.

To that end, I wrote a lot in the early days, and cranked out over 400 posts in 2009. Eventually, I scaled back. 

Way back.

My output sadly trickled down to just 35 posts in 2018.

Obviously, I've posted quite a bit since then.

Each post is (somewhat) carefully thought out. The words are often read a few times.

Still, there are regrets. There are things I wish I hadn't written and things I wish I had. I wish there were things that I wasn't bothered by. Yet I always felt it was important to talk about, especially for those dealing with similar situations.

There are things that were tough to write but needed to be written.

There are posts that I'm proud of and a few that I'm probably not.

But what this little corner of the world allowed me to discover was that I could write a bit. I wasn't just a broadcaster. My voice could be used in different ways.

I had wondered about my writing ability probably since I was in college.

The blog has helped create friendships. It's possibly damaged a few also and that makes me sad.

But here we are.

Despite thinking I might just let the "Exit 55" fade out quietly after writing a few days in a row in 2019, we are still getting together once a day for whatever comes out of my random thought generator.

I've bled for you but have always tried to keep some mystery about it all because I never wanted to be that much of an open book. But I also tried to be honest and transparent.

To those who have read every post, thank you. To those who have read even one post, thank you.

To the kind comments, thank you. To the critics and haters, thank you for the challenge.

To my inspirations and close supporters, my unending thanks.

I will continue to try to find meaningful things to write about and hopefully do it honorably.

In general, I don't write to harm. I write, if anything, to cause thought.

Sorry for whatever hurt and/or embarrassment I've caused.

I said I wanted to make sure this would last.

I don't know that I saw this carrying on for 18 years but here we are.