Tim,

It's you and me, guy. Slowly but surely our universe is shrinking, as posts from our companions become few and far between. LIfe goes on, which seems to be the mantra, yet here we are, you and I, drawing on our Tequila's, lazing in our beach recliners, commenting on politics, life in general, and that awesome sunset kissing the horizon. Next to us we can see the imprints of other recliners, perhaps some empty beer bottles, left there by those who used to share our passion. What is it that keeps us here, my friend? Certainly our lives back in the real world are just as busy, just as full of circumstance, as those who have abandoned us. Will that nasty shark leap out of the surf and drag us into the water as well?

It disturbs me to think that perhaps this passion we have is nothing more than some passing fancy, some fad so yesterday we will dismiss it as something we did for lack of something better to do. I realize thay the gauntlet we have to run every time we seek the time to sit down and do this can be intimidating. Even our own loved ones glance sideways at us and whisper amongst themselves, worried that we have more to say to the world than we do to them. Ah, but if only they would realize that we are speaking to them as well, only sometimes in the only way we truly feel comfortable with. Why is it that complete strangers seem to "get us" while those who think they know us think of us as eccentric for spending so much time with this? You'd think we had just one day up and announced we were headed to Peru to commensurate with mystic llamas, please don't forget to feed the dog. I could think of worse things a husband, a wife, a friend, a coworker could worry about us getting involved with. Or is it just me?

I can only imagine what people must of thought about the likes of Da Vinchi, Martin Luther, and Steve Jobs as they became engrossed in concepts and ideas that people must have thought were a total waste of time. Did it give them pause, so much so that short of their force of will they might have abandoned it in order to fit in better with their associates and family? "Dammit, Albert, enough of this relativity crap, come to dinner before it gets cold!" Imagine the what ifs.......

What disturbs me most are those truly talented ones who suddenly up and decide the whole thing bores them and suddenly drop off the face of the Earth, Blogger-wise. They have no idea the holes they leave in a wondrous universe that would not have been quite so wondrous had they not helped to create it. They have no idea the impact they have had on those who shared their lives, their ideas, their rants, their tribulations. Of course, some will attribute to us the same lame dedication that makes such fools of Trekkies and such, but the fondness that we have for our brothers and sisters in blogging goes much deeper, to family and values, than to fantasy and wishfulness. We truly end up caring about each other, and however you viewed your participation in all this, it hurts as deeply when one of us flippantly dismisses their value to this family and leaves it.

I know how both you and I struggle sometimes to remain relevant on a consistent basis, but we also know that we will have our good days, or bad days, and our moments of utter brilliance, such as the law of averages and how life in general treats us. So we stick it out, my insane friend, and if in the end, you and I are the last comics standing, then you and I alone will hold our heads high as we take the golden wet noodle award and place it on our mantles, more than happy to brag to our progeny just what it meant and how we won it.