Happy Anniversary

July 15, 2010

We’ve been together a long time. In fact, this week makes four years and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Lots of laughs and good times, and some of the best times are when you let me know you’ve enjoyed a particular column; makes all the pre-deadline ‘insanity’ worth it. Speaking of insanity, I’m sure, at times, you suspected I was a few bricks shy of a short pier. (Yikes, did I just mix metaphors?)

Granted, sometimes you may have been right. But I’m always asked how I come up with ideas to write about each week. All I can offer is… I keep one eye open and one ear to the ground. What, not buying it? Okay, how about this… here’s the honest to goodness truth… I have no earthly idea how these thoughts keep coming. Maybe I’m a vortex channeling the spirit of some dead writer. Or, maybe I have an exceptionally high IQ (I know its three digits… .041… or something like that) and this just comes natural to me. Or, maybe I was adopted and, in fact, a direct descendant of… Okay, I can see you’re not buying this either. Me neither.

Actually, I read the news occasionally and if a story catches my eye and sparks my imagination, wa-la… a column is born. There were some good ones too, like the ding-dong addicted rats, or when Pluto was demoted from a planet. One of my favorites though was on Full Flush and cloned beef. I gotta confess however, sometimes the labor pains are intense. There’s the constant research, verifying facts, talking to everyone involved, entering all the data into the computer, spending hours comparing charts and graphs and finally coming up with a punch line. And if you believe all that, I’ve got swamp land in Arizona we should talk about…

But seriously, the way I describe what I do is: I take the truth, throw it in a blender, put the ‘G-spin’ on it and what comes out is still the truth, just a lot more colorful. Then there are the times that I make something up completely from my zany (and probably certifiable) imagination. But you know, those are some of the columns I enjoy the most because I love getting into character, like “Tell-All-McGraw”. He’s my favorite news reporter, even though he’s told on me more than once… the rascal. Then there’s Washington, my favorite little currency guy, from my Washington’s Travels column. Actually, that column birthed a book idea which I am currently writing.

Then sometimes my imagination goes completely off-line and things like underwear expiration dates and ‘tongue-n-cheek’ PDA’s come out. And you know when I go back and read some old columns they make me laugh, which is pretty neat. Then I come to my senses and wonder if I was sniffing markers that day. (Just kidding, ‘drug free me’ is my motto.)

Of course, other ideas just come from living life and having experiences like jet skiing and learning ‘the signal,’ or trying to decide if groundhogs eat turtles. Those are some of my treasured columns because they are personal memories. Also, I enjoy passing on useless information like 300 varieties of crabgrass or 10,000 varieties of ants. Who knew?

Plus, there’s always the columns that come straight from my heart suggesting life-enhancing skills, which I offer for those who may need to hear positive words at that exact moment. Or, I pass along a life tool that all of us could use at some point in our lives, including me.

Yes, to sum it up, I would say it’s been an awesome four years and I look forward to continuing to bring you laughs, smiles or something to think about each week. And I want you to know I appreciate each and every one of you reading my column, it does my heart good.

I wish you health, happiness and hope all is well in your corner of the universe. Be kind to one another.

Can you imagine… another four years?

Smiles cross all boundaries.

CanYouImagine@charter.net | www.BobbiGSpeaks.com | www.theBobbiGspot.com