REMEMBRANCE OF 365 DAYS PAST
 
what are there to remember
what are there to forget
what are there to keep closer
to the altar of my chest
let the friends i've discovered
and foes i've unmade
be a part of my kindred
both in bright light and shade 

 
Cheers to memory.  I can go further in conceit and state the chronology of things leading to this, but I'll put my dead-eye on the side and simply recall the really relevant.   I won't give the number of hits;  I don't know how to figure that out.  There's no way to reveal the number of comments; the old posts have lost them.  The number and names of referrers, I have no inkling for.   But I do have an inkling for what needs to be remembered.

Cheers to quality.  The numbers don't mean anything, the character of those who visited and commented are everything.  They could be a thousand, they could be one, what matters is not the difference between them but the encouraging and wise words left which make a lot of difference. 

Cheers to unity.  The diversity is worth noting: there's an angel, a spirit, a freudester, a friendster homemaker, a researcher/counselor/dancer, a seer/filmnut, a rockstar, an apo (who's a grampa), a rhee, a d and a few distinct others - but the truly amazing thing is not the diversity of our nature nor the diversity of our views, but the feeling of connection, maybe not in opinion, but at least in intention.  For unity is the essence of this blog, the legacy of Montaigne being held to the core: let all people be one to me, let one person be all people to me.

Cheers to anniversary.  A year ago today, I staked my claim.  I'm still here and will stay here as long as people can endure.  On that note and this 1st anniversary, let us then raise our glasses and sing holy to Boublil and Schonberg's Drink With Me from Les Miserables:

with the boys:

Drink with me to days gone by
Sing with me the songs we knew
Here's to pretty girls who went to our heads
Here's to witty girls who went to our beds
Here's to them and here's to you.

with the girls:

Drink with me to days gone by
With the life that used to be
At the shrine of friendship never say die
Let the wine of friendship never run dry
Here's to you and here's to me.

Cheers.