I feel like every day of my retirement is a celebration of The Precious Days. It’s a celebration of how I had envisioned living my days once they were not filled with work, other people’s agendas, other people’s goals, and other people’s problems. I did love most of my working years, but toward the end when you start to ask the questions “What is this all for?” and “Does any of this really matter to anyone but me?”… it’s time to live your days on your own terms. And that, readers, is truly precious. The days behind you are legion in number compared to the days ahead, and that is humbling. So, this blog is my testament to not taking those days for granted. And although this post celebrates about six months of blogging, six months before that, in mid-September on a day much like today—cool, crisp, and fallish—I started playing some autumn playlists on Spotify as I wrote my Morning Pages.

I love the classic standards, so Frank Sinatra singing September Song showed up on just about every fall playlist. As I listened and wrote, the ideas for the kind of blog I might like to have started to take shape. I researched, read other blogs, filled a notebook with a vision, enlisted the design skills of a friend, and September Song inspired the name, with a one word change that made it my own…The Precious Days.

As The Precious Days moved from song lyrics, to musings and dreaming, then to an actual blog, readers who became subscribers actually came along for the ride, filling me with such gratitude. Since my first blog post in March, I have tried to remain true to what I set out to do. I feel so much joy in crafting these posts. I have learned and will continue to learn so much about myself. The blog helps me live an “examined life” that fuels so much of what I feel is central to my purpose here. I hope reading it allows you to think a tiny bit more deeply about your own precious days….

And that brings us to the purpose of today’s post: to celebrate The Precious Days subscribers. You all mean so much to me! Every time I send that email out announcing a new post, please know it is filled with appreciation, and also full of hope that your own days are filled with purpose, satisfaction, and frequent bursts of joy.

AND THE WINNER IS…

I had my husband choose the winning slip of paper. CONGRATULATIONS, Pearl! You can either email me your full name and snail mail address by replying to the email alert that comes to your inbox announcing new blog posts, or use the Contact Box located on the right side of the banner next to the Instagram icon at the top of each page of the blog. Both are secure. I will put your Polanshek of the Hills delights into the mail as soon as I hear from you.

Thank you to all of you who took the time to enter the giveaway via the Comments. And to all of The Precious Days readers and subscribers, thank you!