“The reader is the final arbiter of a text. Without the reader, the words are silent.”

—Margaret Atwood (b. 1939). Canadian poet, novelist, essayist, and critic, one of the most influential literary voices of our time.

My Dear Readers, I blinked yesterday, and suddenly my little corner of the internet tallied 12,000 views for 2025—with three months still to go!

That’s not just a number. It’s 12,000 moments of connection. 12,000 times someone out there paused long enough to read my words, nod, chuckle, roll an eye, or maybe even find a flicker of themselves in my essays.

And here’s the part that stuns me: with this pace, we’re on track to sail past last year’s phenomenal 15,000 peak—a record I once thought unrepeatable. But here we are, repeating (and then some).

The 10 You Loved the Loudest

Every essay I publish is a seed tossed into the world. Some sprout quietly. Some bloom bold and bright. Here are the ten that you watered most generously this year:

● Redbuds of Remembrance

● A Forgotten Voice, A Solved Mystery—And Soon, A Book

● Rise Up with Words. A Declaration for Our Troubled Times

● My Altar Ego

● The Rust Whisperer

● A Week Back to the Future

● What Could $40 Million Do—Besides Fund a Parade? A Love Letter to Priorities (with a Side-Eye to A Spectacle)

● Learning to Love in New Ways

● Finding Love Later in Life—Baggage and All

● A Culinary Heist in Broad Daylight

My Thanks

Whether you’ve been here since my first blog post nearly 13 years ago or you just stumbled across my latest musings, you’ve made this milestone possible. I don’t take your presence lightly.

So, here’s to you—my companions in this ongoing experiment of storytelling, memory-making, and meaning-finding. Let’s see how far we can climb before 2025 closes the books.

After all, the numbers matter—but the connections matter more.