My top 10 memories from the first year of the blog

10. The "thank you" post from May 28,2006 - This post was an attempt to thank everyone for the different kindnesses they had shown in the first few weeks. Why wasn't this ever updated? At the time I didn't know that more than a hundred names would need to be added to the list within the next two weeks, and there have been many, many more since.

9. This post

8. The endless layout and template changes - Blogger has made the colors/fonts/templates changes easier than ever, and it's just way too tempting to mess with stuff.

7. Melanie Pollard's picture of Anne-Marie at LaGrande in 2005 - The picture was used as a placeholder for the first DARKSAYINGS post. It was really only a test post, but the picture received all kinds of compliments and was posted on other sites.

6. The story 'bout the robin - Even though this didn't receive the most comments (the type posted on the blog), it definitely was the most memorable. All kinds of people brought it up when I saw them in person.

5. When the blog went pink for NBCAM - I don't know if anyone even remembers this. I decided it would be neat to change the background color to the traditional Awareness Month pink. Some people really didn't like it.

4. The Notes on Surgery from June - I'm glad I wrote these; it's amazing how much you can forget. And if the digital version ever gets lost, some of you that read them can tell me what I said.

3. Last September's liveblogging from Providence Portland Medical Center - This was really amazing thing if you remember the days "before the web." I was sitting with my laptop next to Anne-Marie's hospital bed when we both wrote out the results of testing to everyone in real time.

2. All of the great comments that people left - We heard from people all over the country through comments posted on the blog and the e-mail links. We read all of them several times.

1. Going back this evening and re-reading the entire blog from beginning to end...and realizing just how worthwhile it all was