It's a Thursday night.

Half a day before this newsletter is published.

And I haven't written it yet.

This has never happened before.

I've written 122 issues so far, never last minute.

But here I am, standing on the roof, trying to unclog a pipe.

You see, it's been raining heavily for days, and the roof drainage pipe is clogged with mud. I have standing water on my roof.

It all happened after 2 weeks of craziness. 2 weeks of driving back and forth between our old apartment and our newer one.

2 weeks of very little sleep.

I've been trying to unclog this pipe for 3 hours now, using a long spring my neighbors brought me. And it’s freezing cold on the roof.

I called several plumbers, but none are available tonight.

Then a thought crossed my mind:

Why won't I just give up?

Why not wait until Sunday for a plumber?

But here I am, covered in dark fluid, freezing, still trying to unclog this pipe myself.

And then it hit me: I haven't written tomorrow's newsletter!

Why won't I just give up?

Perhaps just this once, I won't write a newsletter?

Maybe, just this once, I'll give myself a break.

It would be just one newsletter.

And then another thought crossed my mind: Maybe it's time to stop writing this newsletter altogether?

It would free up so much of my time.

I could watch TV instead— something I haven't done in years.

Or I could go to bed earlier— something I haven't done in decades.

So you see, it's a slippery slope.

You give up just once, and it becomes easier to give up again. And again.

I give up once, and this newsletter is no longer "EVERY Friday."

I give up once, and the bond I have with my readers will never be the same.

I give up once, and I will forever regret it.

People say life isn't black and white— that it's not 0 or 1.

I disagree.

We need things we can trust.

We need things that will always be there.

We need things that don't disappoint us.

We need people who stay true to their word.

It may be just a newsletter.

But this newsletter is here, every Friday. Come rain or shine.

Even if the rain clogged my pipe on a Thursday night.

See you next week!

Epilogue

That’s it for this issue.

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See you next week!

Shay