The End Is Near

You can always trust Homer J Simpson to know
the right thing to say.

December 15th, 2007, was a snowy day in the Chicago suburb affectionately known as the Dirty 630. Mapmakers as well as the mayor of that town prefer it be called by its real name, Naperville. On that chilly evening in the Nape, I decided to start a blog and ten less than artfully created sentences later, this blog was foisted on an unsuspecting public.

I never intended this blog to be anything more than what it was - a place for me to share what was happening in my family in order to quell the steady lament from my mother that she never knew what was happening with us; to share my musings whether you wanted to hear them or not, and from time to time, to try and be a better writer. I never wanted this to be a money-making enterprise, nor did I want it to take its place in the pantheon of "Mommy/Daddy Blogs," especially those unique to people of my faith, wherein everything is perfect (spoiler alert - it isn't perfect) and parents have no problem shilling their children for cash and cheesy product placements. The Den was never going to be the place for that. Ever.

Ten years later and after 1123 posts, in the inimitable words of that sage philosopher and parental train wreck Homer J Simpson, the end is near for the Den. In the last year, I pulled back significantly on my postings and no one seemed to mind. It's not that I am out things to share or stories to tell, I just feel like it's time to step away from much of the interwebs. That's especially true of the Den of late. It's been difficult to muster the spark to share something. Once I got to the point where I wasn't feeling a mountain of guilt for not posting and, to be fair, that's been a recent conclusion, I decided it was time to step away.

So the end is near. I'm not saying the Den is being destroyed, never to rise again. Rather, think of it this way: the owners know something needs to be done with their real estate but they just don't know what to do. The temporary solution is to board the place up while they think long and hard about the next steps. Who knows? Maybe it's a major remodel or it could be that the decision is to knock the thing down and start all over again. That decision could come next week or next month or next year. We shall see.

For now, thank you to each of you who found a seat in the Den that you liked. I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to spend some time here. Thank you for the comments, posted here and shared with me in person, over the years. It's meant a great deal to me and I appreciate it very much.

Thank you.