A person suggested I write about how I became the editor of the Star Eagle. I felt prompted to write about this after receiving two of the most kind and sincere emails I have ever received.
My dad credited me with keeping the paper alive last year. As he has in the past. Four years ago, in April, will mark the first paper I ever produced. Dad was unable to work for an extended period of time. He finished the previous week's paper, but it was Thursday and someone had to start putting together next week's edition. I knew Reed wasn’t going to do it because it’s too much stress. This is, after all, his retirement job. He had said the previous time that if Dad was unable to do the paper it would be time for someone else to take the reins or close up shop.
That’s where I stepped in. I knew a little about what Dad did putting pages together. I had, after all, been the Editorial Assistant since the age of 15. That afternoon, after everyone left, I sat down, ready to work. That was my first ever 8-hour work day. It was also my first 12-hour day. The next three days were the same, 12 hours a day, doing my damndest to try and put something usable together. At the very least Reed could help us put something out come Monday.
I still remember sitting at the computer Monday morning. I felt so good. I had the entire paper laid out and ready to go. And then Reed looked at it. I cannot describe the look in his eye that day, but it felt like pride. He proceeded to tell me, I’m not exaggerating, that I did almost everything wrong, but that we had something to work with. We spent the rest of the day cleaning up my work and were eventually able to put out a paper with none of you wiser as to who the editor was that week.
The worst part of this story is when my sister walked in. It was later that afternoon. She started crying.
After a kind conversation between Reed, my mother, and Jessica, she was okay. I won’t repeat what was said, but really, I beat her to the job.
Fast forward to this year. I haven’t looked back. I’ve actually taken on more. Dad took another step back. He told me he doesn’t plan to come back and work. He likes this retirement thing. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t work, quite the contrary. He just doesn’t run the paper anymore. He’s working on his own book nonstop and I can’t wait to see how that turns out. He’s somewhere around 60,000 words. I shouldn’t say he doesn’t do anything at the office; he does come in on Sundays before I do to write the sports. I can’t take his love for sports writing away from him, despite my own love for athletics.
I have found something I love: running the paper here. It’s hard. Lord knows there are some long hours sometimes, but there isn’t anything I have found as rewarding as writing and really working for the communities of NRHEG. Thank you for your continued support and positive feedback. All those comments and demonstrations of support really do motivate me, and all of us here at the Star Eagle, to provide the best news for the local communities.
P.S. Because Bob loves to do these sorts of add-ons, I would just like to personally thank Melanie Piltingsrud, the Star Eagle proofreader and chief reporter, for all her hard work. As well as all the extra work she puts in assisting me with my stories and frankly, helping turn my long incoherent rantings into logical articles. Thank you for all you do.