500 and Change

As I post this, my 500th blog, I want to share something I have learned over the past ten years. Sometimes, living life exuberantly means slowing down, and taking life in. Exuberance can also be internal – a heightened state of awareness, a deeper appreciation of the present, or a “quiet” joy, more potent than a loud one.

As I’ve said before, my blog started because of a death. In the intervening years, and over these 500 blogs, several other have died, some of whom I have talked about here.

 Mostly though, this blog has been about life and living. I have shared stories from my family’s history, and my personal history in Ottawa, at West Point, and in the Army. I’ve provided political commentary more often than I ever intended to when I first started. Baseball, cooking, and eating were occasional topics. And of course, I have shared ongoing activities in mine and Cathy’s life together – more than she would like actually. 🙂

 In that first blog, I also made a promise to myself at the end of the blog: “…no matter what I’m doing, I’m going to try and do it exuberantly – whether fixing something here at the farm, crabbing at the Bay, hiking Old Rag, or reading a book by the fireplace on a winter day…”

 What I didn’t understand when I wrote those words ten years ago was that my understanding of exuberance would change and expand. I went back and studied the word and its origins. While exuberance is usually associated with high-energy enthusiasm, its root definition from the 15th century is one of “overflowing abundance“.

 Overflowing abundance. 

 It was like a lightbulb going off. 

 Yes, exuberance is high-energy enthusiasm, but it can also be something else. In my mind, a deeper appreciation of the present is an outgrowth of trying to live life exuberantly. That is one of the lessons I have learned while writing these 500 blogs. An appreciation for the present, and an expanded gratefulness for life with all its joys, sorrows, and overflowing abundance.

 It occurred to me that my expanded definition has elements of Zen in it – to experience reality exactly as it is in the present moment, free from the distractions of past regrets or future anxieties. I then remembered that I’ve done a few Zen related blogs, as well as one on Wabi Sabi, a Japanese aesthetic, which acknowledges three realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect. 

Maybe all of this was tying together without me even knowing it. For me, living life exuberantly now means to embrace that ‘overflowing abundance’ – not just in the loud, high-energy moments, but in the quiet, imperfect, and passing ones, too. 

Who knows how many blogs remain, but I promise to keep showing up, to stay authentic, and to continue sharing my view of this wonderful thing we call life. 

Addendum:

• Thanks as always to my good friend Colleen for her editing assistance. She has helped since 2019, when she first emailed me about a mistake I’d made.
• Thanks to Cathy for the photo of me and Carmen. She took it during a recent camping trip on the Pokomoke River in Maryland. 
• Here is the blog I wrote on  the 10th anniversary of the blog: And just like that, a decade has passed. I started this blog ten years ago, on October 19th, 2015. I was 60 then. I’m 70 now. The blog started because of a death*, and a West Point classmate’s admonishment to “Live Life Exuberantly.” I have tried to do so, although not […] Continue here: https://maxnhall.com/2025/10/14/ten-years/
• Here is a link to the blog that started it all: https://maxnhall.com/2015/10/19/why-live-life-exuberantly/