Statistics …

Yeah. Me. The Math Major.

Quoting Statistics.

Go figure.

Looking back on my blog here. And am considering an obituary of the thing.

Maybe.

Let’s see … obituaries … obituaries … what shall I include? Birth and death dates? Cause of death? Accomplishments in life?

From and including: Sunday, June 24, 2012
To and including: Sunday, August 2, 2015
Result: 1135 days

It is 1135 days from the start date to the end date, end date included

Or 3 years, 1 month, 10 days including the end date

Wait. What? I started this blog on a Sunday? Why did it always feel like I started it on a Tuesday or Wednesday?

Maybe that’s a sign.

Well, no matter.

She (I somehow think of my blog as a she, if I think of it as any sex) was born on a sunny Sunday day after much suggestion by close friends. The whole idea was to do something … anything … every day for no reason other than it made the author happy.

And then write about it.

In 2012, there were 191 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 203 posts.

via Your 2012 year in blogging.

Not quite sure how that 203 happened. I started that year. Drafts maybe? Pages? No clue.

Despite it being a challenge some days, I did it. One post. Every single day. 191  posts in 191 days.

So we were off to a stellar start. Lots of fun. Lots of tongue in cheek humor.

And then what happened?

In 2013, there were 394 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 585 posts.

via Your 2013 year in blogging.

You may notice that there were more blog posts than days.

Yeah. That.

That was thanks to NaPoWriMo in April … when I did two posts per day. It was a challenge but it was worth it.

I also participated in the whole Post-A-Day thing. Might as well get some recognition for … oh … wait … there wasn’t any recognition.

At the end of the year, when they give you a summary, I thought there would be bells and whistles … something … saying that I had, indeed posted something every single day for the entire year.

Silly me.

A blip, but nonetheless, I continued … into 2014.

After all, I’m writing because I like writing, right? Not for the recognition, right? We all, all of us bloggers, write for altruistic reasons, right?

**crickets**

In 2014, there were 153 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 740 posts.

via Your 2014 year in blogging.

Well. That certainly isn’t one post a day now is it?

It is at this point that our intrepid blogger author and the blog … well … she had a Major Life Event. Two of them in the long run.

Parents. Gotta love them. And it turns out that when they get older, they expect that their daughter will come and care for them. Well. Mine did. Because, it’s not like I had a real job or anything.

I was writing.

And everyone knows that’s not like a real thing.

Even if I’d saved to give it a year of an honest try. Even if I’d been encouraged to do it by many people from many areas of my life. Even though I’d been paid to do technical and educational writing. Even if I was writing some other non-blog “stuff” in the non-blog time.

And after all, I’d been coming the two hours to their place pretty regularly since 2012 to take them to appointments, run errands, do meds, sit by hospital beds and all the rest.

Yeah. I know. I didn’t mention that here.

And besides, my Dad was my most ardent supporter of all this.

I think he was surprised when he first read this blog. As in “Hey you really can write. And you really are good.”

So, knowing that there was no way the one-post-every-day thing would last forever (and knowing that some days the posts were $#!^) I skipped a day … on purpose. Two actually.

I wish they had done one of these charts for 2012 and 2013. I’d have had little green dots on every single day.

You may notice that the little green dots faded off … a lot … leading up to the end of June … the last day of June … when my Dad died.

My hero. My biggest fan. My Dad.

You might notice a brief flurry of activity a month later in August. About that. Another nail in the coffin.

A call from the man who “drove me to writing” in the first place. Paraphrased. Went something like this:

He: “I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. (insert snarky comment about me and my Dad and my kids)”
Me: “Well a lot of things have been happening here”
(Yes, he knew about Dad; No, there were no condolences mentioned)

He: “I hate you . I hate you. I hate you. Oh. And do me a favor.”
Me: “Hey. All that hate stuff aside, how do you like my writing on my blog?”
(Yes, insanity does indeed run deep in my bones it seems)
He: “Your writing sucks. You suck. You can’t write your way out of a paper bag”

I didn’t do the favor. I did write several blog entries.

Then the sadness hit me again. And the blog posts stopped. And the care of my Mom continued.

And then what happened you say?

Well, here is the chart for the last twelve calendar months.

Not much in the way of blogging, is there?

Actually 33 (now 34) in 214 days. Less than one a week.

Long story short? My Mother also died. A few weeks ago. In July.

In one of those odd Notebook-like stories, after a year of being sad without my Dad, and becoming more and more frail, she fell on the one year anniversary of Dad’s death. Broke her hip. Hit her head.

And died after many days with my brother and I sitting daily at her side.

This is a picture of them in late 2013. Aged 88. Yeah. I know. He looks 50. I’ve got his genes.

The one gal at the facility where Mom lived said she pictured them in Heaven dancing. She didn’t know … my parents met at a dancing class.

If ever there was a reason for there to be a Heaven and a God in Heaven this is it … that my parents are together again as they were for 63 years … happy … and dancing.

So maybe … just maybe … this isn’t an obituary for the blog.

Maybe it is just a realization that sometimes life happens and we do what we need to do … that sometimes it is sad … and sometimes it means not blogging for a while … and then … and then … you realize that maybe, just maybe Dad was right.

I can write.