Just one reply isn't enough to do my answer justice, but I'll try nonetheless
With the stresses that we all experience in today's modern world, this forum comes as a much needed relief. The constant struggle of work, loving and caring for a beautiful wife with mental health issues and raising a budding 3-year old star boy, when all are sound asleep and dreaming, it is this welcoming and soothing forum, and more specifically the truly unique and wonderful members that provide the fuel for my own passion and imagination about the night sky.
From the early days as an ABSOLUTE beginner who couldn't work out his Plossls from his Bob's Knobs, I love that through the help and kindness of this forum and its members I've come along way in this game, but love even more the fact that I have so much further to go.
I could ramble much further about the DIY tricks and tips and simple yet effective guides which this forum abounds with, but at the end of the day the one thing that rings truest is the fact that as a part of this forum, I'm a part of something much bigger than myself.....just like the Universe
Benno.