side•bar: A secondary, additional, or incidental thing; a side issue.

Blogs are funny things. These days almost everybody has one, sort of like a frying pan or an umbrella. And just like those other incidentals, depending on who you are and where you are in life, you might use them often, occasionally or not at all.

As a writer of sorts, I’m expected to have Great Thoughts so awesome and abundant that they must be corralled and displayed somewhere, sort of like Cousin Orville’s prize-winning pigs at the State Fair. (Full disclosure: I have no Cousin Orville.)

I for one find this laughable, and for years it has prevented me from jumping into a regular blogging routine. I’ve had a few false starts along the lines of “Hey, Mom, look at me! I’m blogging!” But things never went beyond that. I’ve always found other outlets for rants and raves, including personal emails and my Facebook page.

That’s why I liked the idea of calling this blog “Sidebar.” First, it references a literary device used to contain additional material, in this case in service to the rest of my website. Second, it’s meant to be short and concise (kind of the same thing, I know), so I can drop in a comment or two when the spirit moves. Finally, with any luck I can spark a conversation or two on current events as we go along.

Having reached the outer limits of my current attention span and with nothing more to say, this seems like the perfect time to wrap things up. In future outings I promise to expend more effort in sharing the abundant, awesome Great Thoughts I know the world is waiting for. Here’s one: The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

So, how does it look, Ma? (Full disclosure 2: Mom doesn’t do the Internets.)