This is the end, beautiful friend.
Late next week 1000 Awesome Things will hit #1 and we’ll have finished four years counting down one awesome thing every weekday. So… like Luke Skywalker’s triumphant final battle against the Fish Monsters, the Jamaican bobsled team’s mighty last-second push to capture gold in ’88, and Milli Vanilli’s final sold-out show in Wembley Stadium, so too is my time writing about awesome things climaxing in one last blaze of glory.
Four years have gone by like that *snap* and now I’m forced to picture life without steaming burritos wrapped in paper towel on my keyboard, piercing migraines in the morning from staying up too late, and getting together with a group of friends around the world every day to talk about rusty see-saws, glue movies, and almost names.
It’s time to look back, smile, and say thanks …
To Mike Jones, for so many stories and ideas over the past four years. You’ll always be my Superman.
To Frank Warren of PostSecret, thank you for running the best blog out there and still finding time to help me along the way. You have contributed so much to the world and are a true inspiration.
To Drew Curtis of Fark.com, thank you for believing in old, dangerous playground equipment.
To wires, thank you for connecting my computer to people around the world. You turn classy, sophisticated thoughts into pixels and words — filling minds and connecting strangers. You ask for so little and give us so much, wires.
To readers and commenters who are the soul of the 1000 Awesome Things community, especially Freddo, jdurley, Laura, Bekah, Kathy, wendy, simone, lovethebadguy, trixierix, and galileo. I’ve read every single one of your comments and laughed so many times. I’ll see you at the Nutella bar at Freddo’s afterparty.
To the journalists who have written, spoken, and shared stories about 1000 Awesome Things, thank you for being Apostles of Awesome. Special thanks to Misty Harris, Jian Ghomeshi, Nancy White, Roger Ashby, Marilyn Dennis, Darren Lamb, and Dina Pugliese.
To Louis Sacher, David Sedaris, and Bill Watterson, thank you for getting a kid excited about writing.
To nachos, thank you for being my dinner a couple hundred times, after I got home late from work and needed to write tomorrow’s awesome thing. I love you so much, nachos.
To Chad Upton, nobody has supported 1000 Awesome Things like you — from editing photos, submitting links, and sending ideas all hours of the day. You are a truly awesome friend. Thanks for saying yes to this blog.
To Chris Kim, you didn’t get to see this site win awards, score book deals, or get millions of hits. You just called me every couple days when I started the thing to tell me you liked it. Somehow that’s the most important thing of all.
Thanks to the many great teachers I’ve had over the years, especially Mr. Olson, Ms. Eales, Ajay Agrawal, Mike Wheeler, and André Perold. Special thanks to Mrs. Dorsman for pushing me out of my shell in third grade.
To Mom, Dad, Nina, Dee, and Leslie, thank you for your patience, ideas, and love through it all.
To everyone who has ever read, blogged, emailed, Spacebooked or Pintweeted any post from 1000 Awesome Things around the electronical intertubes, thank you sincerely for your support.
To WordPress, thank you so much for hosting my site from Day 1. You give people all over the world a voice. (To start your own free blog, just like I did, click here.)
Finally, thank you to you. Yes, you! I’m talking about you! You, the person staring at this computer. You, the person who just read the word poo. I mean you. Nobody else. You! Thank you so much … for reading this sentence. Thank you for giving those eyeballs to these fingertips and connecting our brains.
When we finally hit 1000 Awesome Things I know we’ll both look back, smile, and say thanks many times.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
AWESOME!
Live in Toronto? Join me next Wednesday, April 18th at Chapters John & Richmond at 7pm to say goodbye to 1000 Awesome Things. I will be signing books and revealing the #1 awesome thing.
Dear Neil,
Awesome doesn’t begin to describe what you have given us in these loving / fun / funny / bittersweet / awesome daily instalments. My (totally awesome) daughter turned me onto this web site and we have decided to continue it between ourselves, (aiming for) daily. Talk about the gift that keeps on giving. May you always see, feel and enjoy the awesome, large and small. With endless thanks and a grateful bow to you, SPGK
This has been an amazing site. It has made me laugh and cry and even when I didn’t pay attention to it….it steadily marched on: one awesome thing a day.I remember when I first started reading it, about 2.5 years ago. I thought, hey, this site is pretty cool. But it has stayed with me….which is a pretty amazing feat. Because sites usually fade over a year. 1.5 years with me, but this site…is. amazing.
When it is gone, I will be seriously depressed that day, but life will go on. However, a little piece of my heart will be gone. Thank you author who will probably never read this post, but has made my life just a little more…awesome. :)
Thank you.
Hey 1000 awesome things fans and of course neil,
I was searching on the website for my #1 awesome thing and I founded this, looking back, smiling and saying thanks. An sentence that came to my mind after the recent death of my little dog, caused by an heart cancer.
I was so sad because she was suffering a lot, having stomach deseases, constantly vomiting and breathing badlly. It got worst when we took her to bury on my grandmother’s house thinking she was already dead, when suddenly one of my sisters screamed saying that saw her breathing. We all got nervous, so i took my grandfather’s stethoscope and i could listen her heart beating really slowly. Immediately my mom drove as fast as she could to the veterinarian so then we could confirm if she was dead or not. Arriving at the veterinarian with her in my arms I felt that her body got toughtier and a lil bit colder. The doctor didnt need to confirm it’s death anymore i was sure she was dead at that moment. Coming back to my grandmother’s house i had to dig my lovely dog pit while in tears and my sisters praying for her.
After all that, I told to my friend that I will never have a pet again. So he reminded me that what really matters is not those bad moments that I’ve been throught with her but the good moments.
At the end I realized that he was right, and that for all the good things and good moments joana, my little dog, provided us i just have to look back, smile and thank her.
Thanks neil, to provide us this terapeutic website.
From: leandro
Why is it so easy to fail but so hard to succeed…
This comment is so late, but i just want to say i wish i couldve been on here during the countdown! Lovethebadguy, jdurley, bekah, kathy, freddo, all of you, have made me laugh from the beginning. Thank you, to neil and all the commenters that made me laugh! The url is so sad!