Time for gratitude

Letter No. 78: Includes nothing but thanks.

Dr Essai is just back from a journey to the Path of Totality—more on that in a day or so—and visits with four old hometown friends (one of our friendships has been ongoing for 56 years). Flush with feelings of gratitude for those lovely people, and my lovely wife, and a life that has been rich and beautiful, I felt it was time to say something to you, my lovely Jogglers:

Thank you so very, very much.

Thank you for subscribing, thank you for commenting, thank you for your notes to me, thank you for your financial contributions. Above all, thank you thank you thank you for reading. I have been stringing sentences together for publication for more than 50 years and not once have I taken my readers for granted. No one has ever had to read a single word from my pen. That you do means the world to me. I align with Lewis Hyde’s idea that artists put their work out in the world as gifts. We may make some money—usually not much—but essentially we are giving work to the culture. To me, readers’ attention is a gift, too. Gift economies are circular. And they work; they always have.

So, once more but not for the last time, thank you.