Mazel tov to me.

This is very unlike me. While I have never forgotten my wife's birthday or our anniversary, I generally tend to forget about other milestone dates until about 2 weeks after they have passed. Somehow I woke up at exactly the right moment this time.

I was laying in bed tonight and was thinking about a couple of posts I have brewing in my head. I am laying there developing a post in my head, which usually means by morning it will be long forgotten and never get posted. The post went off on some tangents and somehow I realized that I missed my blogaversary. Probably not by much, but missed it nonetheless.

That made me curious, so I got up and looked back at my archives to see when I actually started posting last year. Sure enough, it turns out I did not miss it. My first post of this blog (really my first post of the second life of this blog) was exactly one year ago on December 28, 2005.

A blogaversary has become an occasion for taking some perspective and introspection, similar to a birthday or an anniversary (though I do not do so on my birthdays or anniversaries), so humor me for a few moments and let me ramble a bit.

I always enjoyed writing and (even more so) reading. The blog is my outlet, my way of getting my thoughts out and my rants off my chest. But in reality it has become more than that.

It allows my wife and the rest of my family to have a window into my head. Often times I express things better her, in writing, than I would or could in conversation. Sometimes it is simply a matter of convenience. While a thought might strike me, by the time I get home or talk to a friend or relative, the thought is gone, forgotten. With my blog, I can jot it down and write it up and they, and you, can all read what I have been thinking about (why you would want to is a different story), despite the fact that ten minutes later I have already forgotten about it.

It has also become part of a community. I have met and become friends with some very fine people, both virtually and in reality. I have renewed contact with some old friends I have bene out of touch with for a long time. I have learned a lot from reading your blogs and from your commenting on mine. I have become aware of issues that I never would have been aware of, and have come to see and understand many more viewpoints and opinions.

So I will take this opportunity and give some thanks now.

In no particular order (other than the first and last), thank you Shifra for putting up with me. Sometimes it is frustrating to you when I blog about something before I mention it to you. Yet you put up with it and me honorably and allow me this outlet without too much hassle (except the occasional post you do not let me publish).

Thank you to mil, fil, sil and bils (mother in law, father in law, sister in law and brothers in law) who are all readers (but almost never comment in writing, only in real life). We used to live in Israel all alone and only had the yearly visits, which were nice. Since you have moved to Israel, we see that it is a completely different life having family nearby, being available to help us when we are stuck in different things. The kids have an opportunity to hop on a bus and head out to Jerusalem to hang out with their grandparents and aunt and uncles. Along with everything else.

Thanks to my parents and brothers (I do not think my sisters read my blog, so they will not get mentioned). You guys are of my more faithful readers and more frequent commenters. Distance keeps us apart, but I think this blog has succeeded, in some way, in keeping us together and in contact (even more in contact than by our normal email and phone correpondence) and aware of what we each are up to.

Thank you to all the blog writers. I enjoy reading lots of different blogs. Some of you are very eloquent, some provocative, some humorous, some inspiring, some interesting, some educational, etc. The variety is great and the jblog community is great.

Thank you to all the readers of this blog (and my Torah Thoughts blog), and to all the commenters. While I like to think I would blog even if nobody read it, it is much more interesting when there is feedback from readers, and even more interesting when there is some great debate taking place.

Thanks to Blogger for providing this free service. If I had to pay for it, I probably would not do it.

And thank you to Hashem for giving me the strength to go on and post and the words that sometimes make my posts interesting.