As hard as it might be to grasp, this is the 601st entry in this column series that began in 2010.
I don’t know if that’s an example of how “time flies” or illustrates that I’m really good at producing nonsense, but it’s pretty crazy to think about. I mean, 600; that’s nothing when it’s associated with grains of sand or how many insects there are in Missouri, but I think it’s safe to say that 600 would usually be a pretty big number when linked to a person doing something that many times.
Of course, more than 601 weeks have passed since the series began, but that’s the actual number of these that have appeared in print and online. During those other weeks, there might have been a piece about a dog recapping an adventure, or simply no column by yours truly, because there are those moments when “I got nothin’.”
I discovered long ago that there would be times when the column subject section of brain went blank, and I’ve never fought that because I never wanted to force the issue. But almost against the odds, there has more often than not been activity in that portion of my noggin, and words have been strung together as a result.
And when I do have something, it could be anything, because the driving force of this series is nothing. In turn, subjects covered in this space have included everything from float trips to fairs, from politics to pet peeves, from history to hysterics and from bison to baseball. There have been the serious and the silly versions, with content sometimes designed to inform or educate, sometimes to condemn or denounce, sometimes to praise or appreciate and sometimes just to create smiles and laughter.
Through it all, it’s been a wonderful and enjoyable ride, and I look back and sort of marvel at the outcome, almost feeling like it happened on its own to some extent because I couldn’t possibly have come up with all that stuff on my own. It’s like a train left the station a long time ago and quickly became a runaway, and I’ve been in the caboose the whole time. It’s as if a ship left the harbor a long time ago and I’ve been being dragged behind it in a dingy ever since.
But I don’t mind. I kind of like trying to keep up with this thing. And since it’s sort of like its own entity with its own energy, I guess someone has to.
Anyway, I feel led to thank those of you who have gone down this path with me for all these years. I know you have plenty of better things to do than read this stuff, and I don’t take that lightly.
And as No. 601 takes its place in the annals of this series, there’s no telling what might come next.
Could it be a rant about another stupid, irrational thing that has to be dealt with by level-headed, rational Americans? Will it be about hilarious, absurd laws that are still on the books somewhere? Could it be about food? Or maybe even high school football?
We’ll see, right?
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.
