On October 11, 2006 the first article appeared in this spot making today my blog's first birthday.  What began as a suggestion by Husband that was encouraged by Daughter became a resurrection of a newspaper column I used to write in the 90's.  Since I can't offer you a piece of birthday cake, let me at least answer some questions I've been asked.

Why is this blog anonymous?  My answer is don't you think you would find it much more comfortable to reveal personal events and inner thoughts when there's no evidence of who the hell you are?  In other words, if a blogger screams in cyberspace and no one can see her does she still make a sound?  For this blog's launch a year ago, Daughter and I sent out an email blast to everyone we knew.  I sent out about 30 emails.  Daughter sent 300.  It is entirely possible that the bulk of my readership is comprised of people Daughter met in the subway.

Why am I so camera shy?  Actually, I'm not.  Even I have grown tired of looking at the back of my head at the top of this blog.  But when I tried to replace the photo, it turned out that GoDaddy updated their site with many exciting New Features! which included replacing my template with other New! Exciting! ones rendering mine Impossible! to revise.  They tried to entice me to pick a new template but that would mean designing everything again from scratch and that concept is not realistic considering it still takes me ten minutes to create a link.  When you look at all the links I'll be creating for this entry you'll realize I started writing it in June.

Now I'll ask you a question.  As my Aunt Sophie would say, you don't call, you don't write; you broke your hand?  Whether the communication is by email or onsite, my commentators are truly enjoyed and appreciated.  I know how you must feel, though, because I rarely comment on anyone's blog either and I look in on quite a few.  I'm never completely convinced my comment will be relevant or receive a response.  Then I'll have to fight the impulse to think my remark was ignored or the blogger is an asshole.  Well, yours won't be and I'm not.

What topics do readers like best?  If my statistics are any indication, the answer lies somewhere between Little League and Medicine.  My archives get accessed almost daily and it would seem that baseball and medical drama speak the loudest with these getting viewed most often:

Field of Screams
Before the House Comes Down
One Flew Over the Sonogram
Devotion in the Suburbs
To Do: Post Office, Car Wash, Brain Scan
It Only Turned My Eyeballs Inside Out
Perfect Location! EZ walk schools/shops/RR Charming vus heaven/hell
In the News. . .Sports, Slavery, Starbucks

Readers sometimes print out entries and that just thrills me because it suggests they either want to pass them on or read them again.  Unless it means they have a parakeet cage.  These are the ten most printed entries led by Before the House Comes Down which is the most printed of all:

What, Me Worry?
Buy Me a Volvo
No Stupid Children
That's the word on the street
'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky
Odds, Ends and Friends
Tough 'R' Us
Say what you mean, mean what you say, and don't be mean
Familiar Strangers and Others

The entries below drew the most emails and comments:

Down the Rabbit Hole
Dropping Like Cyber Flies
Goes Down Easy at a Bargain Price
A Darker Shade of Pale
Roots and Wings
Pretty Poison

Of the more recent entries with less statistical history, these posts get opened frequently:

Secret Powers
Making Memories
I Smell It, Too
Giggles & Gigabytes
What's Mine is Yours
The Fine Print
Wind in My Hair, Gravel in My Teeth

In answer to no particular question, these entries were written in hotel lobbies in the middle of the night while Husband slept and I was out of Ambien:

The South's Gonna Do It Again, Part I
The South's Gonna Do It Again, Part II
The South's Gonna Do It Again, Last Part

Daughter's photos are an honor to showcase and there is a link to her site on the sidebar panel.  The first entry with a Featured Foto was Fast Food and Slow Burn but I didn't know how to use the image manager so the picture is tiny.  I began including Fotos regularly with No Longer Available and they have truly raised the bar with their compelling subjects and unique composition.  Daughter is both gifted and a gift.  You can experience her exceptional vision in The City that never sleeps and the Girl who watches it.

Son is irresistible to blog about because he is so damn funny and original and I am beyond proud of the young man he has become.  The post regarding himself that he approved most recently was What You Get For What You've Got and I appreciate my entire family's generosity in not editing my pieces even though they can.  Wonderful, loving Husband is especially supportive and an especially good sport in this regard and it's a pleasure to have the freedom to write what I want.

I'll close with a photo taken by Husband when he got his new digital camera earlier this year and it is still the image that greets him when he turns the camera on and that sends me out of this world.  It has been cleverly disguised with my amateur photo-editing skills and I'll leave it here with my thanks to all of you for coming.  And coming back.