Sometimes, everything just comes together.

You start with a long career in the military, add a dash of sarcasm, a splash of an award-nominated novel, and a whole bunch of pictures of animals. What does that get you? Apparently, over 100,000 views and 4,000 upvotes on Imgur.com, one of the internet’s most popular image-sharing websites.

I know these things because I’ve been a member for six years, and I’ve seen stuff like this happen before — but it still feels really incredible when it happens.

Ok, granted: it didn’t get more upvotes than my all-time favorite post, the one where I got cropped out of my own picture with Jessica Alba (and then TIME.com wrote an article about it. Yes, that TIME). But it still feels really great. DON’T RUIN THIS FOR ME!

I was mostly amazed at the HUGE show of support from all my friends — and even internet strangers. It was a really positive experience all around with only two (I counted) negative comments.

But no matter how well Gift of the Shaper does, or how long my writing career spans, I know that none of it would be possible without the support of my friends, family, and loved ones. And if you’re reading this right now, you’re one of them.

Thank you.

-D.L.