Blogiversary

It is hard to believe that today, March 8, 2025, I am celebrating thirteen years of creating my sosAssociates.com blog. Last year, I wrote about expected change, but this year, I don't know what to expect. I do anticipate many good times ahead.

I want to say thank you to the people responsible for all the great things I was able to do in 2024 and so far in 2025. I will continue to share in my future blog posts the good times in the Cleveland/Akron area, and in my travels.

All together, in 2024, my wife and co-blogger, Julie, and I had the second highest number of blog posts in one year since 2016, when we had 36 posts. (2024 is tied with 2015's 34 blog posts.) I have started 2025 with two blog posts, and I expect that I will have fewer blog posts this year due to plans that will keep me away from the keyboard.

Today, March 8, 2024, as I celebrate twelve years of creating my sosAssociates.com blog, I am expecting that this year will be much different than last year - which is a good thing. A year ago, I was in the middle of a potentially life-changing situation.

A year ago, I predicted three changes would occur in 2023. They all happened, and were resolved to my satisfaction.

I want to say thank you to the people responsible for all the great things I was able to do in 2023 and so far in 2024. I have big plans for 2024, which I will continue to share in my future blog posts.

Please take time to read some of the 18 blog posts from 2023 and the seven (as compared to only two a year ago due to illness) that I wrote so far in 2024.

Today, March 8, 2023, I celebrate eleven years of creating my sosAssociates.com blog!!

“The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change -”
-- Heraclitus.

In my 2021 sosAssociates.com Blogiversary: Nine -- In the year of Social Distancing! blog post, I wrote about how the world had changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 8th of last year, as I published my blog post sosAssociates.com Blogiversary: Ten -- I can't believe this is the TENTH YEAR!!, I was fairly prepared for change -- on February 10, 2022, my dad had moved to the Cleveland area so that my sister and I could care for him. Unfortunately, as we entered 2023, my dad, Stuart O. Smith, Sr., passed away on the morning of Friday, January 6, 2023, at the age of 89.

Now, as I write my 2023 Blogiversary blog post, I am in the middle of another potentially life-changing situation, but I believe I have a good support team that will help me find a successful solution to overcome the current challenge. I hope to write a blog post later this year to document my planned success.

The focus of my blog posts has evolved over these 11 years since my co-writer and wife, Julie Smith, and I started writing our blog posts on March 8, 2012. I enjoy documenting activities in which I participate, and invite you to read my blog posts that cover topics of interest to you.

My co-writer and wife, Julie Smith, and I started writing our blog posts on March 8, 2012. I can't believe this is my tenth blogiversary for sosAssociates.com!!! While the focus of this blog post has evolved over these ten years, the joy it brings in documenting activities in which I participate has continued!

My co-writer and wife, Julie Smith, and I started writing our blog posts on March 8, 2012. The years of 2020 (after mid-March) and 2021 (so far), make this a drastically different blogiversary than any other. This is reflected in the nature of how our blog posts changed one year ago, right after our sosAssociates.com Blogiversary: Eight! post, when we starting writing our Social Distancing blog post series.

While our world is so different on this ninth anniversary, I do want to express how grateful I am to have the community resources and family support to ride out these times. My immediate family has been very fortunate in this difficult year, to be healthy and able to adjust to the lifestyle changes caused by the coronavirus crisis. Julie's and my thoughts are with those who have been ill or who have lost loved ones this year to COVID-19.

 2012 to 2020!!! My Eighth Blogiversary of celebrating the fun of exploring our community!

Julie and I are looking forward to sharing our adventures with you through new blog posts in the year ahead. Each month in this coming year brings new possibilities!

2012 to 2019!!! My seventh Blogiversary of celebrating the fun of exploring our community!

Thank you to my great co-writer and wife, Julie Smith! I always enjoy sharing the journey with her. I also want to thank the many organizations that hosted the events/activities I wrote about this year!

Julie and I wrote 47 blog posts in 2018, which is the greatest number of blog posts we have ever done in one year! One of the reasons we wrote so many in 2018 is that we enjoyed visiting many of the venues for the FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. Julie and I want to give a big THANK-YOU to Fred Bidwell and the other FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art organizers. 2018 was the inaugural year for these exhibitions, and we are looking forward to FRONT returning to Cleveland in 2021!

2012 to 2018!!! Our sixth Blogiversary of celebrating the fun of exploring our community and writing about our experiences!

Thank you to my great co-writer and wife, Julie Smith! I always enjoy sharing the journey with her. I also want to thank the many organizations that hosted the events/activities I wrote about this year!

Please take a moment and scroll across the following images/links, and please click to read some of our 29 blog posts for 2017, and the posts we have done so far in 2018. 

2012 to 2017!!! Our fifth Blogiversary of celebrating the fun of exploring our community and writing about our experiences!

Thank you to my great co-writer and wife, Julie Smith! I always enjoy sharing the journey with her.

Since my first Hello, World! My First Blog Post! on March 8, 2012, I have expanded what I have written about as Julie and I are in our fifth year of blogging. Please take a moment and scroll through and view the topics of the 36 blog posts from 2016, and the seven posted so far in 2017, that you will see at the bottom of this post! As I wrote last year: "It brings me joy to look at the blog posts we did this past year -- great memories of fun times, plus the anticipation of a new year full of possibilities!"

2012 to 2016!!! Our fourth Blogiversary of celebrating the fun of exploring our community and writing about our experiences!

Like last year, I want to start by thanking my great co-writer and wife, Julie Smith! I always enjoy sharing the journey with her.

It brings me joy to look at the blog posts we did this past year -- great memories of fun times, plus the anticipation of a new year full of possibilities!