Hello,
Welcome back. And welcome back to me, too. Here I am again, the keyboard warrior, the kitchen table columnist, the – dare I say it? – blogger.
It’s not my first rodeo, and it’s not my first blog, either. In fact, this year marks the 20th anniversary of my blogging, which also coincides with Son’s 20th birthday. My first blog was called “Name That Baby” and it chronicled our expecting life, and the life of Wife and me as new parents.
Back then, blogging was a new thing. The Thing. Google hadn’t acquired Blogger yet, and being an early adopter in the field created some new media darlings. Some of them became big stars, and made a lot of money.
I was not, and am not, one of them, even though for a few years, I wrote a blog for the NHL, Finnish MTV, the Finnish hockey league, and for myself, right here.
Why do I write these things … in 2022?
Well, in part, because it keeps my writing engine running, and in part, because it makes everyday life a little more interesting. When every encounter at the store or a gas station is a possible story for the blog, they become more memorable to me.
Let’s say I walk to the mall, and on my way there, as I take the underpass at the station, I notice a man begging for money.
Well, that’s just an observation, not a story. It’s not even a funny anecdote.
But it is something out of the ordinary, even if, unfortunately, seeing people begging for money isn’t uncommon anymore. Begging for cash is a doomed enterprise in Sweden, I haven’t carried cash since 2018, and don’t even know what the fairly new bills looks like. When I was a kid, every apartment building in Finland had a sign that said, “Begging and peddling prohibited.”
But I digress. Back to blogging.
Maybe the man says something that makes me think of something else, that may bring back memories from my childhood or something.
Did he?
Well, he did. When I was about two, three steps away from him, he shouted, “Merry Christmas” at the top of his lungs.
That made me think of a friend of mine who watches Trading Places every Christmas because, in a way, the man sitting outside the station could be Billy Ray Valentine from the movie. If the Duke brothers decided to make him the CEO of their company.
And just maybe that becomes a story you’ll read here one day.