Greetings, readers. Today happens to mark the third anniversary of the start of Just Plain Something. Which is utterly incredible to me (and it turns out this weekend marks the one year anniversary of Driving Home the Movie as well). On the previous two anniversaries I wrote a little about what the website means to me, how much I appreciate my readers, what good things are coming in the future – but I don’t want to repeat myself just for the sake of mention it. But I do want to tell you a story.

I began Just Plain Something just before what has ended up being the most difficult few years of my life. I went back to school for a career I ultimately didn’t follow (even if I did get the degree for it and the student loans that come with it), I spent a good amount of that time jobless or practically jobless, I lost my grandmother only months after she really got sick and my grandfather’s mental health fell with it. In big part thanks to my work on Just Plain Something I was finally able to get a full-time job with benefits in a field having to do with my first love (that would be writing), but it’s still been a struggle and tomorrow of all days I’m going to be moving to a smaller place thanks to a number of unpleasant circumstance. Things are changing very quickly and my anxiety has never been as high as it’s been in the last 7 months. I’m telling you all this because even during my darkest times, this site has kept me grounded. It’s one of the only things in my life I have control of and I’m so proud that I’ve kept it going for three whole years.

So, while the next few weeks are going to be a draining final mile of this difficult personal journey of a half year, I hope you stick around. Don’t give up on me anytime soon because I’m not giving up on JPS. Not by a long shot.