On September 22, 2004, the television show Lost debuted on ABC. Over the next six years the show would grow, gain a loyal following, and become a hit. People all over the country tuned in on Wednesday nights to find out what weird twist or peril their favorite castaways would find themselves in.

I was not one of those people. Lost didn’t hit my radar until halfway through the first season. I vowed to pick up Season One on DVD and get caught up before Season Two began, but I didn’t. I told myself the same thing during the gap between seasons Two and Three. Soon I was so far behind that catching up didn’t even seem possible, so I wrote off the idea. At message boards and water coolers everywhere people were discussing the show, comparing notes about past events and theorizing about future ones, but I was never a part of that. It was a cultural event that I missed out on.

In May of 2010 as the show was coming to an end, Lost was everywhere. The show’s actors were being interviewed, the show was being heavily promoted, and many of my friends were excited. After six seasons, the show ended in a 2 1/2 hour series finale … which I watched, live. Yes, the first episode of Lost I ever watched was the last episode. Of course none of it made any sense to me. I didn’t know who the characters were or what was going on, but everyone around me wanted to know all the answers so badly that I decided I did too … even though back then I didn’t know what any of the questions were.

Leap through time with me if you will (sorry) to a couple of months ago. On November 1st, I finally acquired all six seasons of Lost. One of my friends told me, “Watch the first four episodes. If you not hooked by that point, walk away. If you are, you’ll watch the whole thing.” And sure enough, by the end of episode four (when a formerly paralyzed John Locke inexplicably stood up and began running around the island’s beach saving crash victims), I knew I would be watching the entire series.

It took me nine weeks, but last week I finally made it through all 121 hour-long episodes of Lost (122, if you could the mini/bonus epilogue from the Season Six DVD; funny how they crammed more answers about the island in that episode than they did in the finale!) For the record, Dad made it through the series in about half that time (retirement has its privileges), and Susan is still stuck somewhere in the middle of Season Three. For a while she and I were watching the series together, but she likes to watch one episode a night and I like to watch four (or more).

Were there problems with it? Definitely. The fifth and sixth seasons suffered from some serious pacing problems, there were too many unresolved plot lines, and not all of our questions were answered. All that aside, for what it’s worth, I thought it was a great show. I enjoyed the mysteries and the intrigue. I especially liked the way your opinion of characters (or groups of characters) changed over time, depending on your point of view. Yes it got weird (and eventually weirder), and yes it wasn’t perfect, but I enjoyed the story and I enjoyed the journey.

Thanks for waiting for me at the church, everybody.