Project 49
- Ray DeGraw
- Jun 12
- 3 min read
June 12, 2025
Happy birthday to my father who would have turned 85 today had tragedy not struck in 1989. Unfortunately for him and all of us who knew him he was taken from us at the ripe age of 49 years and 17 days. It really comes into focus for yours truly as this year come August, I will be turning 48-years-old. I think anyways, I have to check with my wife, she knows better than me!
It's funny, when you're a young whippersnapper, you can usually tell somebody how old you are to the day and the hour. Now I have to take out pen and paper to figure it out. Screw it, I don't have time for that...I just checked with my trusty calculator, I am indeed turning 48 this summer. The wife, double checked my work and confirmed my calculations. Crazy when I think of it. Other than feeling like a train hit me at the end of every day, I still feel pretty young in my head.
When I started this website, I kind of had this lingering in the back of my mind. In a little more than a year, a lap around the sun and then some, I will be the same age as my father when he passed. And I have accomplished very little when it comes to the paper and the pen. When I was young and the world hadn't beaten me down yet, I used to write all the time. I started by following in Dad's footsteps by working at the Morris County Daily Record as a sports writer for five years. After that I dabbled in novels to little success or fanfare. When I had kids I put out a children's book...again, I was not able to retire off of it.
Then it dawned on me...you can't make money with this shit, so stop trying. And don't take that the wrong way. What I mean is, stop trying to reach fame, fortune and glory. Stop trying to write the next best seller on Oprah's list. Just write and give it to the world. What the world decides to do with my madness is entirely up to the world. I am sick of writing things that just gather dust on the shelf, or rot away in an old laptop stacked up in the back closet. Or worse yet, stuck in the caverns of my brain. So, here I am, vomiting 25 plus years of ideas, rants, unpublished gobbledygook and whatever decides to come to my mind.
When I began writing again last year, I wanted to see if I could come up with content on a daily basis. I wanted to see if people would brush it off, or actually read it. I am happy to say, I have accomplished both as I have posted for over 165 consecutive days and my readership is slowly, (and I reiterate, slowly) beginning to build. So, with that all in mind, I am proud to announce an initiative called project 49. In honor of my late father and in an attempt to catch up for 25 years of letting my pen collect dust, I will post every day until I turn 49 years old and 17 days.
I will most likely take at least a day off after that...maybe post a picture of my hairy ass for everybody to enjoy. I have a feeling that will get the most views, likes, shares and thumbs-up emojis. Until then, enjoy the ride. Project 49 is officially underway!
Dude, please do not regal your loyal readership with a picture of your “hairy ass” at the end of the project. xxoo
Right on Ray! I can relate, lost my mom when she was 48, and I too will turn 48 this August. (We’re so old!) This fact of my life was a major component to taking a year off and fulfilling some goals I’d had most of my life that had nothing to do with career. My mom never got there, she was robbed. I don’t read your blog every day, but catch up when I can and do enjoy. So cheers to you, and your dad. Keep it comin’.