I used to get so annoyed when anyone older would talk about how things were better in the olden days. I guess I’m older because I realize they were right. Things were better back in yonder days of yore, pre social media and way back in the late 1900s.

This picture makes me hungry. Back in the day, if you saw a personal pan pizza delivered to your table piping hot in a cast iron skillet, you knew that pizza was going to be fire. I mean literally because you’d inevitably burn the roof of your mouth with that first bite, but also in the sense that your taste buds were about to get born again.

Also, those red plastic cups? Those were the best. Cokes tasted way better in those, especially if you were surrounded by good friends or family. Don’t even get me started on those stained glass lamps.

Pizza Hut was the hang out spot after a Friday night football game (or should I say Friday night marching band performance bookended by some football). The team rarely won, but that didn’t matter. It was the memories that mattered more than the stats or the win-loss column. Plus, they had a jukebox with all the classic songs from the 80s to liven up the mood.

Restaurants had more personality back in the day. Places like McDonald’s were a child’s fantasy world instead of a sad washed-up middle aged man hang out. Everything tasted better. And yes, get off my lawn, you meddling kids.

I’m not the best at math, so I may be a little off but I think after this little post I will be 34 away from hitting 5,000 blog posts in my career.

I never thought I’d ever get to this point. In fact, when I started I didn’t really have a goal in mind. I started with the first one and went from there. I was going to keep writing and writing for as long as I could, regardless of who else read it besides me (and my Mom).

I’ve made it a goal to write something every day. That’s the only way to get better at writing — to write and write and write. Also, reading good books helps, but mostly it’s writing every day, even when you don’t feel like it or don’t think you have anything worth saying.

Sometimes, I cheat a little by quoting someone else’s words. Sometimes, I will use other people’s writing because they’ve said it better than I ever could. But I’m learning how to improve my own voice so I can speak my own thoughts with my own words.

As always, I’m thankful for every reader and for every view. I’m grateful that people from all over the world want to read what I write. I’m humbled and honored by every single person who follows me regularly and encourages me to keep going.

So here’s to 5,000 (in a little over a month) and beyond!