To my friends and readers,

Everyone starts an online journal for different reasons.

When I first started The Corsair Journal, it was because I was at a place in my life where I was looking to make a connection with myself. I had learned from springdew that keeping a journal--especially a public one, one that could invite feedback--was highly therapeutic, in a way.

And it was.

In 2003, my life was a train wreck; there wasn't a single aspect of my life that wasn't coming apart. I was slogging through coming to terms with several major changes in my life, and while I had friends--good friends--you can only go to the 'friends' well so many times before you start becoming a drag. And I don't care how good your friends are; it takes a lot of fortitude to support someone who was going through a divorce, especially someone overly emotional like me. So even though I don't have some of those friends anymore, I will forever be grateful beyond words that they were there for me during that awful time in my life.

Frankly, as lives go, mine is not so unusual; I'm not conceited enough to think otherwise, and I tried to convey that more than anything else in The Journal--I certainly didn't cure cancer or solve any other pressing global crisis within its entries. I had highs and lows, and wrote equally of each. I went through bouts of depression, and bouts of giddy happiness both. And while it certainly was no riveting prose, it served its purpose--it was a creative outlet for me to write almost every day and to exercise my brain muscle. It also served, in a more traditional sense, as a touchstone to let me examine my life with the clarity of hindsight, as we all so often do; for while my life to this point has been not-so-unusual. it certainly has been more fun than it hasn't, and I feel that it is important to remember that very important fact..

But as the days and months go by, I find myself with less and less to write about, and less and less time to write about it--maybe it's because I'm so busy living my not-so-unusual life. However mundane my particular life may be, however, I can say that in the times since I first started The Corsair Journal, I have reinvented myself a bunch of times--hopefully for the better.

So now, with the time between entries growing longer, I think it's time to finally, formally, put The Corsair Journal aside. Maybe I'll reinvent it someday, too. Maybe The Journal has ultimately served its therapeutic purpose for me after all. Or maybe I'm about to crawl back into my chrysalis and reinvent myself yet again--and maybe the Journal will take on a different form and different tack if and when I pick it back up again. We'll see.

And so, I bid what few regular readers I actually have a fond adieu. I really have enjoyed writing for you as much as I've needed to write for me. Thanks for reading, thanks for bearing with my rambling musings, and thanks for understanding.

A lesson that I've learned from keeping The Journal, I will share with you: just remember, that in between writing the pages and chapters of your own lives, be sure you take the time to live, to laugh, and to love.

Goodbye, good luck, Godspeed, farewell, and amen.