Post No. 1000: All Those Simple Thoughts

This is my one-thousandth post here at Velvet Sacks. It's taken a long time to reach that milestone -- seven years and three months, to be exact -- but the sense of accomplishment is sweet all the same.

I had no expectation when I started this blog that it would last as long as it has. In fact, I wrote in my very first post on January 27, 2006, "I hope I'll stick to blogging longer than my feeble attempts at journaling lasted. All of my journal entries seem to be dated in the first few days of January--of different years." So what made the difference? You did.

When I wrote in a journal, I wrote alone. Here, I write as part of a community of other writers and readers: warm, friendly people who come together in a joint effort to understand and explain how it feels to be human in today's world. You've made me see that we're all running this human "race" together, and when I've stumbled, you've picked me up. You've kept me going.

There are no literary masterpieces here, but there are a few posts I consider my best work. There are many others that I read and find so lacking in substance that I wonder why I bothered writing them. Then I think about that, and the answer comes to me: I wrote because I was reaching out. I may not have had anything meaningful to say, but I needed to connect with you. Thank you for being there. Here.

Mindful that this significant-numbered post would fall on a Saturday, I searched my iTunes list to pick out a relevant Saturday Song Selection. When I scrolled down to the JJ Grey & Mofro song posted below, I realized it expresses my feelings beautifully. It's a wonderful song about life, but it also happens to be a perfect metaphor for sticking with something that's challenging, even during the times it seems most difficult -- for example, the process of writing an ongoing personal journal on the Internet.

"'How many more days can you hold out,

How much longer can you wait?' she asked.

There was a time I thought I, I could answer,

But my tongue gets tied as my thoughts drift away.

"All those simple thoughts, all those peaceful dreams,

Share the space with a hard-worked, hard-worked day,

But it's the little things, the little things, not expectation,

That make life worth living, worth living.

"Glory, Glory, Hallelujah,

The sun is shining, shining down.

Glory, Glory, Hallelujah,

I'm alive and I'm feeling, Lord, feeling fine."

The song is "The Sun is Shining Down" by JJ Grey & Mofro.
Thanks to Jeremy Smith for creating and posting this lovely video on YouTube.
Click here to read the full lyrics.