My blog is 15 years old today. As hard as it is to believe I’ve been writing that long, the really astounding part is, before signing up for WorePress, I wrote elsewhere for eight years. Which means I’ve been blogging for 42% of my life.
Holy cow.
I had all kinds of fun ideas to mark this auspicious occasion. Like creating 15 posts leading up to the big day, each celebrating a noteworthy milestone from that year, but this task seemed too daunting. Would you want to wade through all this?!
Yeah, me neither.
I will share the opening words from my very first post, published on this date in 2009, because they set the stage for what was to come:
I have one goal in life: to publish a book before I die.
I doubled down on my promise when I wrapped up that virgin post, and in the process, found my future blog title:
I will be a published author someday. Mark my words.
It’s been a fun ride, and I’m forever grateful to have been able to chart the many changes my life has gone through in real time. It’s been a rollercoaster ride full of both good and bad. Unemployment, a new romance, road trips, hospital stays, seven new jobs, two big cross-country moves. It’s all here.
Oh, and like I promised, I published that book – less than two years after starting the blog. Guess I was practicing the fine art of manifestation right from the start.
Hands down, the best part about blogging is the friendships I have acquired through this amazing community of like-minded people. Some virtual, others in person, but all real. Whether you’re reading me from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, or Bangladesh, thank you for humoring me and following along! Your comments, likes, and shares mean the world to me.
(Seriously, I apparently have a lot of fans in Bangladesh. More people have visited my blog from that country than Mexico, Russia, Italy, Spain, and 131 other countries. Go figure!)
I have always tried to write openly and honestly, focusing on the little things that make life so absurd. The conversations with Tara are mostly word-for-word, though I might take a little artistic license to exaggerate a point. I consider humor my forte, and I am never afraid to poke fun at myself, even if it means sharing stories about being caught dancing naked on camera or barking like a dog in public.
My favorite blog moment? Probably the time the belly dancer I publicly lusted over found my blog and gave me a bit of good-natured ribbing about it. She was such a good sport, too!
(Thankfully, so was Tara.)
In truth, very few topics are off-limits, though I sometimes have to write in code, Mad Libs-style, because family members read the blog. One lesson I did learn the hard way: don’t let your boss know you have a blog. There is nothing more disheartening than having him recount passages during the Monday morning all-team huddle.
Makes it really hard to badmouth him, too.
I have been rereading my blog from the start, but with so many posts and so little time, it’ll probably be 2027 before I catch up to the present. Looking back over the comments, a lot of bloggers I used to interact with have dropped off the face of the earth. I can promise you this: that will never be me. If I suddenly disappear, alert the authorities, because something bad has happened to me.
Seriously. I’m fully committed to this endeavor and can’t imagine not blogging about my life. It simply means too much to me.
Thank you again for your continued support over the years. To celebrate 15 years of stick-to-itiveness, I’m playing DJ and taking requests. Do you have any burning questions you want answered? Particular topics you’d like me to write about? Photos you’re interested in seeing? Loose ends that need tying up? Now’s your golden opportunity, so fire away!
And if you’re reading me from Bangladesh, how’s the weather in Dhaka today?
Mark My Words 
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