As the longest night of the year passes, I thought I’d acknowledge that I’ve been relatively MIA around here, particularly when it comes to updating neverland.  Just last month we experienced a big loss in the Bard household.  I haven’t posted about it because grief is a buzz kill, and I didn’t want any of you to get your buzz killed along with mine.  But as the year wraps up, I thought I’d explain my absence as far as saying that the end of this year seriously sucked.  In addition to not posting here regularly, I also dropped the ball on at least 2 homoerotic wrestling related projects I committed to.  Like I said, grief is a buzzkill, and I was struggling to get into it.

Happily, my buzz is returning.  Things left undone in the mean time include not sending my traditional Christmas wish list to Santa’s little elves to deliver goodies to share with you here.  You may remember it was precisely that Christmas wish list last year that Drake Marcos filled with some provocative pics and a particular taunt that came back to bite him in the butt this fall.  Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever have quite such a fantasy wish list filled as climbing into the ring and gloating in victory over a too-big-for-his-britches sexy jobber wasted at my feet.  Perhaps I should take a break from making wishes and just appreciate the good fortune last year’s list brought me.  Then again, I wouldn’t say no to any choice pics of beautiful wrestling muscles Santa’s little elves send my way.

Honestly, one of the things that’s been highlighted by my recent loss is the amazing community of support that this little blog has generated for me in the past 6 years.  As certain as I am to never, ever let Drake live down his stripped and strung up humiliation at the hands of a mere blogger, I’m just as definite about counting the Cheshire Cat among my friends that I can turn to for a word of consolation, or a distraction, or a kick in the ass, whatever the situation requires.  Several wrestlers and readers alike that I hear from regularly (not the charming “Hey dude, I’m going to fuck you up, so let’s wrestle” private messengers, but the others) reached out and offered thoughtful and compassionate words of support to me over the past several weeks.  I’m a little in awe and humbled to recognize just how much that’s meant to me, and amazed to think that a shared infatuation with the eroticism of wrestling is the common denominator that shaped those personal connections.

For those of you in the middle of holiday celebrations, I add to my late-started wish list that you have a great time, surrounded by love and support and with at least one rip-and-strip wrestling match in store for you with a hardbodied fantasy man of your dreams.  For those of you not in the middle of holiday celebrations,well, hey… same for you, but with a bottle of baby oil thrown in for a little extra fun.  To those who have been inconvenienced because I’ve dropped the ball lately, my sincere apologies and genuine intention and expectation that I’ll be back at the work that I love the most (and pays me the least) in the coming weeks.  And finally, to anyone else in our community that’s finding this time of year particularly fucked up because of recent loss, I hear you.  I know what you mean. It’s going to be okay, but not before it keeps sucking some more.  So hang in there.