This year I wrote and published more than 60,000 words in my weekly columns. If you’ve read them all, you can add one more to the number of books you’ve finished, since that’s a typical word count for a full-length publication.
I found out this week the Minnesota Newspaper Association will be handing me an award at its February banquet for this very thing–column writing. In fact, we were delighted to learn this week that we’ll be taking home about a dozen awards, some for the newspaper as a whole and some for individual work created by our writers. We don’t know for sure what place we took in the dozen categories. They’ve told us we’re ranked among the winners–where we ranked will be revealed at the February 1 banquet.
I remember going through the submission process. I had known for months that the deadline was approaching, and that there are 47 categories, ranging from advertisements to websites. Although I knew we didn’t have entries under all 47, there were still many where I felt we had done some truly fine work. It was time-consuming work. We had to collect a year’s worth of issues and go through them, considering what columns, articles, photos, and sections we regarded as some of our best. There are many, constant demands on my time, and here was one more thing to do.
Still, if we wanted to see how our work stacks up against the other more than 250 newspapers in the state, it had to be done.
With our decisions made, our entries were submitted electronically and it was time to…wait.
I had no idea what to expect. After all there were more than 4,400 entries were submitted in Minnesota’s Better Newspaper writing contest. More about that later, in February, when I know more.
This year has been fulfilling.
I’ve learned a lot.
I’m incredibly thankful for a tremendous number of things.
We celebrated another year in business.
I learned that humor may not always come across well, expressed in a column.
Many, many, many people told me how much they value the newspaper.
I had some health scares. My friends had some health scares. Frankly, a few too many scares, if you ask me.
As I prepare for 2024, I can’t help but feel optimistic. I know I still need to slow down and continue recovering, but I’m fighting the urge to run full speed ahead. All in good time.
This weekend I celebrated the first of a string of Christmas dinners, this one at my grandmother's house. Thank you Kathy Richardson, and my mother, for a great meal, and even better company.
The biggest lesson I learned this year, I have to say, is simply, enjoy the passage of time. However you choose to do so, please do it in a healthy way, that doesn’t harm anyone, and optimally, brings joy to those close to you–including yourself.
I find myself worrying more for those I care about. As the people I care about in the generations ahead of mine grow older, I want to, rather I will, value the quality time I continue to have with them.
My parents first and foremost. Seeing someone lose their parents, quickly, or slowly, is a difficult process. We must all bow to inevitability, so I have been led to realize the importance of appreciating, and enjoying, every day I have my parents.
I love my dad’s late night phone calls. He likes to find an excuse to call me late at night. I imagine him, sitting at home, asking himself, “What can I call Eli for?”
Dad, you don’t need a reason to call, ever. Just to see how I’m doing is good enough.
Mom, please just answer your phone a little more often. Will ya?
My sister celebrated the birth of her first child this year. Talk about exciting. My parents were starting to wonder if they would ever have grandchildren. Now they have one. Nathan, my oldest brother, is in a serious relationship too. And she seems pretty cool.
I don’t write about my love life in the newspaper. The concerned ladies in New Richland–I’m talking about you Grandma Sharon–spread enough news about that.
Deb Bently told me about a conversation she heard second hand about “a lady who calls herself my grandmother, asking if a girl was single,” in order to suggest they date me. I love you Grandma Sharon. And I do, in fact, go on dates from time to time. That said, a little help never hurts.
As I like to say, folks who are twice or three times my age know more about life than I can really begin to imagine. Most people reading this, for example, have lived my lifespan (26 years) two or three times. In the case of Mr. Paul Stennes, almost four times. I heard Paul was having some trouble the other day. Jane, his daughter-in-law, posted about it online. I do hope all turns out well.
My favorite, and really only Paul Stennes story was when he walked into my office last year.
He told me he was “here to renew his subscription another year.”
And that, “He didn’t know if he was gonna be around in a year,” Or “Heck I don’t know how I’m still walking around now. But they still let me drive.”
Paul was very nice to talk to that day. As is often the case, I wish he had stayed to chat a little while longer.
Interviewing his son Pete, and Jane, was one of the best times I’ve had during an interview. I spent about three hours at their home, just talking. There’s nothing quite like a good conversation. Pete and Jane are off in Arizona for the winter.
I chatted with them briefly before they left. I asked them what they talk about in the car, on the long ride there.
“Nothing. We just listen to tunes,” Pete said.
Apparently, when you’ve been married as long as they have, 50 years or so, there isn’t a whole lot to talk about.
“Sometimes she tells me not to miss our exit,” Pete said about Jane.
The two of them are a lovely couple.
Oh, and I must thank Grandma Sharon for the sweet treats she dropped off in my office this week. She is too kind. I’m reminded now why I need to slow down a little in life. How else am I possibly going to get to spend enough time with all the people I care about in this life?
There’s nothing quite like living in a small town.
Here’s wishing you a blessed, and happy 2024.
“I find my happiness where the sun shines,” unknown.