August 23rd is the official birthday of Wil Wheaton dot Net, which went live on this day way back in 2001, in all its ugly hand-coded glory.
I didn’t know then that this blog would change my life, begin a new career for me as a writer, and eventually give me a second act in my life. It’s been one hell of a journey, and this is one day that I stop for a moment to both enjoy and celebrate the success I’ve had, while recommitting to take nothing for granted, and keep doing my best to earn good people in my life.
This year, I don’t much feel like taking a victory lap, because I feel like there’s still so much to accomplish and so much that I want to do, and after all this time I am more fearful than ever that I’m going to wake up and find that it’s all gone.
August 23rd would also be River Phoenix’s birthday, and while I don’t think of him often, when I do, I can’t help but wonder how he’d be doing right now, and if we’d even be in each other’s lives. It’s so weird to know that I’m 43 with two adult children, and he never even got to be 25.
I don’t know what else to say. I’m a complicated mix of emotions and thoughts today, and I can’t find the right words to express them.