My dog is dying.

As reasons for launching a blog go, I suppose it’s no better or worse than any other. As many creative types will attest, life-changing events — falling in love, leaving a relationship, contracting or beating a disease, or losing a beloved being — are often accompanied by bursts of creative energy. And although my Facebook friends — heck, my friends, family, and coworkers in general — have all been incredibly supportive and encouraging as I walk with my old girl on this long, painfully certain path, all of that energy needed someplace to go. Y’know, where it’s not jamming up everyone’s news streams.

So, does that mean that this blog will be a series of morose and maudlin meanderings down memory lane? Nah. That would be boring. And death is only one part of life. One of the hardest, most vulnerable and intimate parts, yes. But one of the smallest.

What you — whoever “you” are — will read here reflects my own, personal view on the crazy variety of life. Some of it will be imported over from a blog of the same name, which used to be hosted elsewhere, on a different platform. Some of it will be new. And some of it will be things I’m revising and moving over from Facebook — the bits that made people laugh or cry or think a little. You might say that Facebook was my test market, and my friends were all taste-testers.

Whatever you might say, I say those friends are some of the best humans walking the planet. I’m grateful to them for allowing me to indulge in my small conceits.