It’s always nice to hear from people who read this column from time to time. Last week, I heard from several readers who said they enjoyed the column about grandma’s old dishes.

From what I understand, many folks find themselves embroiled in controversy over worldly possessions when a family member dies. That’s sad. At times like that, we should all work to support one another, not bicker over money and possessions.

Luckily, my immediate family has always been supportive of one another. There isn’t any sort of sibling rivalry that I can detect between myself and my two sisters, even though my parents always did like me best. I think I am stealing that one from the Smothers Brothers. I can’t remember if Mom liked Tom or Dick best, but I do remember really liking their television show. I think Tom was always saying that his mother liked Dick the best. Tom was the goof, if I am remembering correctly.

As for the column, I’m always sort of surprised when someone tells me how much they enjoyed it. I don’t try to write something enjoyable, I just write. It’s like playing a song: Whether or not the audience likes it isn’t your problem. You just play it the best you can.

It usually takes me about an hour to write a column. Sometime later, I go back and read over it, taking out parts that don’t fit well and making sure that at least most of my poor uses of grammar and misspelled words are weeded out. I sometimes change a tone that I can ‘feel’ in the text. If I wake up in the morning and the milk is spoiled that I dump into my coffee and the car won’t start, then the column usually has an unhappy tone. If the birds are singing and the sun shining that day, the tone will be more upbeat.

Almost all of it is written stream-of-consciousness, which is to say I don’t take notes or prepare beforehand all that much. I do sometimes have an idea, usually a single sentence, word or phrase, that comes to mind sometime during the week. As often as not, I think of a really great idea and then I can’t remember what it was. That’s like walking into the kitchen, lost in thought, and suddenly wondering why I am there. I do that more and more often these days.

By and large, it is a pleasure to be able to express my thoughts and ideas in this space every week. If these simple words can provide enjoyment for someone, that’s just a bonus.

However, even spending a couple hours a week, each and every week, can be a burden. Just knowing you have to do something, that a blank spot in the newspaper has your name on it, makes writing these pieces a labor, even if it is a labor of love.

Of course, there are the times when the writing comes harder than at others. When the words don’t flow and the ideas just don’t seem to come like I want them to.

I can always look back over something I’ve written and think of a dozen things I could have said that would have been funnier or more succinct. That’s why I try not to read a column again after I’ve ‘finished’ it. That’s as pointless as thinking back over an argument and realizing all the points you could have made.

Everywhere I go, I am always amazed at the number of funny and interesting stories that I hear from the people I talk with.

“Why can’t I think up something like that?” I think. Then later, after I hear from someone who read and enjoyed a column, I think, “Maybe I just did.”

I look at the wealth of information around me, from the odd thing that happened in the checkout line to the funny story I was told by a friend, and I wish I could capture it perfectly all in words, like butterfly in a net.

Of course, in this week’s edition, it would appear that I have written a great deal of words without really saying anything at all. Perhaps I need to change the column’s name to “Much Ado About Nothing.” Since that likely wouldn’t fit in the little logo space that I have remaining, I figure I might just leave it be.

So much of life really is about nothing. We get upset over things we can’t change, we inflate our problems to the level of our personally perceived importance and we bellow like bulls when someone gets the parking space we wanted at the really big store.

In closing, I want to thank each one who takes their time to drop a note or say a kind word, whether I reply directly or not. It is those little pieces of encouragement that make me feel like, at least sometimes, this column might be worthwhile to someone besides myself.

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