All of us have to make decisions in life. These decisions fall on many different levels of difficulty – everything from what to eat and what to wear to where to live and what to do with our lives.
One of my children got upset with me about 15 years ago, telling me I need to pick one job and do it forever. I was surprised by the statement and just stared at them for a minute. Then I told them God had blessed me with many talents and I enjoyed all of them. I saw nothing wrong with changing jobs to suit that particular time in my life. I am not a person who can sit in one place for a long time and do the same thing every day. A lot of people are able to do that and they have my utmost respect.
I’ve worked as a police dispatcher – a job I really enjoyed. I’ve been an office manager; a restaurant manager (when I was 17); I’ve been a reporter; a news photographer; a professional photographer; and a full-time mother and wife.
Today I am the editor of the Santa Rosa Press Gazette. But in a few weeks I will not be. I am moving on to try something new and someone else will take the helm here. This was my choice – a very difficult one – but the right one. This is a great place to work. The people I work with here are my family. I will still be around, coming in to see them and catch up on everyone’s lives. I will share my progress in my new goals and I won’t lose that family.
I was home Monday morning, pondering my decision and the future, when ironically Maria Shiver did a segment on the NBC Today Show about women and their roles in the world now. It was about “Having it all”. I watched this feature with interest because that is exactly what I am trying to do.
I’m trying to find a balance between my home life, motherhood, career, God’s plan for my life, and relationships – with my friends and within my family.
My 11-year-old daughter looked at me the other night and said, “You’re my rock, mom.” I was very touched. I realized she’s right. I am her rock. I am all she has. She and I together have made plans and talked about things we want to do, experiences I want to offer her. Now I will have the time to do those things.
But as the day draws nearer to my departure as editor, there are things I’d like to share with the readers of this newspaper.
About ten years ago, the effects of the internet on newspapers was just starting to come into vision. Publishers and editors began to see the possibilities for reaching a large number of people through websites. It took less than a decade for that vision to be realized.
A massive number of layoffs have occurred in large newspapers. Some of the major newspapers of the United States are down to a fraction of staff members they used to carry.
Canned news, press releases coming out at the same exact time to every news outlet from Washington State to Milton, Florida involving national news is common place now.
The main difference is Washington State readers don’t care much about what is happening with the Palm trees in our median. But we do.
The weekly newspaper is surviving nicely in the midst of mass layoffs for larger newspapers.
That is because of you.
It’s because our neighbors, friends and readers walk right through the front door and talk to us face-to-face. We are all in the community together and we care about one another.
Talking to you all through this column and through Facebook has been my favorite part of the job. I’ve felt like our readers are my family since the first day I walked through this doors of this newspaper office in 1995. We have been getting a lot of feedback from you and we appreciate that. It means a lot to the newspaper and to me personally.
I am going to be working on some writing projects and photography projects. I’ll still be around, doing my thing. I just want you to know how much I’ve appreciated working for you and with you.
Keep in touch.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Woman on the Edge: Decisions