Nice big round number - this is post 49,000 for me. Wow.

[NRaleighLiberal]

It is a deceiving number. I spent several years moderating and am often on MIRT - those two tasks drive up post numbers. So, the number is not remotely indicative of my volume of ideas or posts worth sharing here (I stand in awe of many of you in your ability to generate great posts, wonderful content - H2O man is my current personal DU hero. Such eloquence, such relevance - but he is one among many, and your words help me stay sane (though even that statement is arguable!)). I think with my heart, and it is often simple and clumsy. I am better at tomatoes than politics (at least I think I am!)

I joined DU on April 14, 2004 - holy shit, that is over 15 years ago - running here for solace due to the nausea-inducing Dubya years (and I have to say that my recollections of Dubya haven't been any kinder to my opinion of him - it is just that our current orange asshole criminally installed so-called leader is just quantum levels worse). I've posted stupid things, inane things, had my hand slapped a few times early on, had a few posts hidden, took a hiatus during the nasty Bernie/Hillary battles. I was shocked and saddened when DU was hacked out of our world on Putintrump election theft night. I was followed to my own personal email by infamous troll death threat guy. I've gotten to meet some great DUers, in North Carolina, but also here and there while going my gardening talks - including Skinner in DC.

Thanks DU and DUers. I will try to come up with something a bit deeper and profound for my 50K post. But as I shed social networking tools - cheerfully departing Twitter and Facebook, for example - DU continues to be incredibly relevant to my daily knowledge of what's going on "out there". We don't watch TV, listen to little radio - news comes from here (it is a superb aggregate, thanks to all of the DUers who find and post the latest). So, DU is hugely important to me.

The orangeasshole years have gotten me down. I've posted my share of depressing (as in I am depressed) posts, but always find something here that bucks up that all important word we loved so much for those 8 glorious Obama years - HOPE.

Thanks, DU!