I just kind of noticed I was approaching 5,400. BFD, you may rightly say.
I always appreciated taking a moment to reflect when faced with those nice, round numbers. When I was but a lad, I collected baseball cards (in the good, old days, when you actually had to buy pink, gum-flavored cardboard to get the cards). Topps - who was at that time the only manufacturer - reserved numbers on the 100 (or on the 50) for star players. In a seemingly random assignment of ~700 cards representing each player in both leagues, Card number 1 was inevitably someone special, as were cards 100, 200, etc.
Now, I'm not going to be able to say anything "special" for post #5,400, but I do enjoy recycling threads. And Peter completely whiffed on his #14,000, so I had to pick him up.
I have reflected almost daily since the Axiom 30th Anniversary on how much I continue to value interactions here. That event helped me to "hear" posts in the voices of their authors, which has amused me no end. I treasure the experiences of that gathering.
Some of you have already heard this story, but I hope you will indulge me a Ray/Jack moment. When my Dad was sick before he passed away about five years ago, I was spread really thin to the point where I literally could not plan more than a day or so in advance. During that time, a personal philosophy crystallized for me - Show Up, Do Your Best and Be Nice. Some days, accomplishing even that was (and remains) challenging, but it was really all I could do. I am constantly surprised by the inability of the general population (and my offspring) to accomplish those tenets.
However, the good people of this forum seem to embrace those principles so consistently that I am unable to pull myself away from you.
Just keep being awesome, everybody.
