Farewell and thank you, Open Diary!

 It’s been a long time — 15 years that I have been writing here — and I’m going to miss this place and the friends I’ve made here terribly.  It still has not completely registered on me that Open Diary will be gone soon.   Hopefully, I can keep up with most of the amazing people I know here who still read my diary.  There have been many others over the years, but most of them have long departed OD, unfortunately.  Still I treasure the memory of many of them.    A core group of the faithful have stayed, and they did so because the Diary Master made OD a true community of caring souls who had a place to share their lives.   I cannot even imagine how much time I have spent here.  Whenever the mood arose and I wanted to write, I’d come here and post an entry, and then greatly anticipate the notes from readers.  It was a form of self-publication, a catharsis and release that really worked and inspired me to keep writing because it meant something to others, and they said as much.  I hope they felt the same way I felt about the notes I left after reading their diary entries.  

Back in 2001, I wrote this at OD:  

"  When I first started an online journal almost three years ago, I wrote a lot of reminiscences that first year about growing up.  Now, I feel I have told a lot of my story through the type of "reflection" and essay pieces I write here at Open Diary and which constitute a continuation of that early "memoir journal."

"Journal writing is an unfolding process of self-discovery, as I’m sure you who have done this long enough know.  That is one of the main reasons we write in journals, and to post them online means we allow others to share in our lives and know a bit about ourselves and our past..  I am not afraid of confronting the unpleasant aspects of my past, but in my two journals,, I have tried mightily to dwell on the small incidents and memories which make me smile in wonder and appreciation for the good times and the pivotal people and places I have known and visited over the years [and all the many rich and fulfilling experiences I’ve had].

So now I want to thank the Diary Master and his invaluable volunteers and assistants who have maintained this site for as long as they have. A great many people’s lives have been changed and enriched immeasurably by this place we’ve called an online home.  And I am forever grateful.