What Are Words For?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Cheers Bitches!!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin-mOvDzcX_2rXUWTpWrLjZnPI-D9FVrqi-sY_OW8kiR-Ki7kFKCaUeAotwiRvBCYSs69zZbJ4B9dVU1wVxiEQckQ3la3LNUA4NEvJ94teJIUxfVi7AjZzqOiclAoH08jcZtQh6rj65Sw/s1600/Dale+Bozzio+Hot+Missing+Persons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin-mOvDzcX_2rXUWTpWrLjZnPI-D9FVrqi-sY_OW8kiR-Ki7kFKCaUeAotwiRvBCYSs69zZbJ4B9dVU1wVxiEQckQ3la3LNUA4NEvJ94teJIUxfVi7AjZzqOiclAoH08jcZtQh6rj65Sw/s400/Dale+Bozzio+Hot+Missing+Persons.jpg" width="400" /></a>Y’know?  Yesterday during the celebration of my 48th birthday, I learned a number of things.<br /><br />First off, I learned that I am old. Secondly, I learned that I, in spite of myself, have a lot of friends, and tertiarily, I learned that 19 year old chicks don’t dig 48 year old men.<br /><br />Ha…Kidding…I really don’t have a lot of friends, but anyhoo…<br /><br />Being the international internet radio star that I am, several thousand people wished me a Happy Birthday on my Facebook page yesterday.<br /><br />To the eighty percent of my Facebook friends that I don’t actually know, I gave a “like.”  To the twenty percent of my friends that I actually do know, I left a comment.<br /><br />But…Here’s the thing penultimate (yeah, I love that word, so?) thing that happened yesterday.  I didn’t just grow older yesterday; I grew wiser, and more importantly, more humble.<br /><br />Aside from the public displays of Facebook affection yesterday, which are great mind you, and I truly loved them, I had several phone calls and private messages that were a bit more profound.<br /><br />My 18 year old son gave me a dose of his brillant sarcasm that sounded word for word like something I would have said if I was in position.<br /><br />My brother Marty called me from his Austin, TX., hotel room  at 7 AM and wished me a Happy Birthday and he said, <i>“It is always good to talk to you.”</i><br /><br />For thirty minutes, I talked to my brother Vince who is experiencing a world of difficulties.  In spite of his difficulties, we laughed all the while, because as he says, <i>“You can cry, or you can laugh;  And either way, it’s nice to laugh and talk to you, my brutha.”</i><br /><br />I sent Schmoop an e-mail asking if I could have our last frozen pizza for lunch.  She didn’t answer, she ignored it.  She later claimed that it was a Yahoo mail problem.  I claimed shenanigans…Turned out…It <i>was</i> a Yahoo problem.  And we laughed.<br /><br />Yesterday, I chatted on Facebook with a woman with whom I went to school, and I told her that she and I should have gotten married back in the day, but the timing never worked out.<br /><br />Oddly enough IWS readers, are you sitting down?  She agreed, and the conversation continued over a variety of other topics.<br /><br />A couple of years ago, I was told by a woman that that I am “iconic”, and like it or not,<i> “your words matter to people.”</i><br /><br />Two years ago, I shrugged that comment off and filed it under, comments from crazy people.  You see…<br /><br />While I have always considered myself to be a good writer and when I put my mind to it and work at it, a damn good writer, I have never considered myself to be a person of any influence whatsoever.<br /><br />And while Schmoop may say something to the effect that I am chronically charming and for whatever reason, people like to listen to me, I have always thought…Yeah…so?<br /><br />But…Yesterday, I became the recipient of an attitudinal shift.<br /><br />In addition to the aforementioned examples of people who hang on my words, I received a birthday wish that stated I was Bagwine, Ohio’s best in comic relief.  Ha…I never realized that the woman who sent that even read my FB comments, IWS posts, or my smart ass remarks. <br /><br />Here’s the thing…In this nanosecond by nanosecond world of texts, Tweets, e-mails, and blog posts, I am going to pay closer attention to what I am “putting out there.”<br /><br />Not because I care, but evidently some people do, and well, that’s really not all that bad, it’s a compliment, and I don’t want to betray that good will.<br /><br />Cheers!!<br /><br />Matt-Man<br /><a href="mailto:mattmaniws@ymail.com">mattmaniws@ymail.com</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/MattMan_IWS" target="_blank">@MattMan_IWS</a></div>

What Are Words For?

Cheers Bitches!! Y’know?  Yesterday during the celebration of my 48th birthday, I learned a number of things. First off, I learned that I am...

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