Farewell ... one more time

May 02, 2007 04:29 pm

— Goodbyes are tough for me, so I’m not going to belabor it ... mainly because I don’t intend to be gone for long.
My family and I will, however, be moving to Laurel for a couple of years to take a chance with a promising startup company. It’s very exciting, and it’s a little scary, but it’s the right thing at the right time. I’m 37. My daughter’s 2 ... and everything has fallen into place so seamlessly, it just has to be pre-ordained. The only downside is that it’s all happened really, really fast. Too fast to say as many personal farewells as I would have liked.
Opportunity, like politicians and Jehovah’s Witnesses, often knocks at inopportune times. And sometimes we have to answer ... unlike with politicians and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
If things go according to plan, we will be back here in two years to enroll Annelise in kindergarten. And there’s no reason to believe things won’t go according to plan.
We weren’t looking to leave Kosciusko again ... ever. I can’t emphasize that enough. We love this place. Leaving here in November 1996 to take an opportunity in Vicksburg was scary at the time, but it turned out to be a great move for us. And moving back here in May 2002 to start a family was an even better move for us.
But moving takes its toll.
Not necessarily all the physical work and aggravations. No, it’s the goodbyes. It’s the fracturing of friendships and familiarity, then forging new friendships and learning who the loonies of a new community are.
Each time I’ve left my friends and co-workers, it’s gotten more difficult. With those last two moves, my eyes got mistier and mistier as The Star-Herald and Vicksburg Post buildings got smaller and smaller in my rearview mirror.
That will be the case again this time, no doubt.
The only reason we’re willing to put ourselves through it is because we have faith that we will continue to better ourselves. Yes, the pain is worse, but the payoff will be even better ... If we didn’t believe that, we wouldn’t go through this again.
At this point, let me acknowledge that my departure isn’t necessarily sad news to some of our readers. And that’s OK. If your life gets better because I’m gone, you didn’t have much of a life anyway.
But to the many people who have supported me and been so kind and encouraging, you are the ones who made this decision so difficult.
As a newsman, it’s tough to leave behind all the ongoing stories, the upcoming election and the stories that didn’t get done; as a citizen, it’s tough to leave behind so many good, honest, decent friends.
It would be impossible for me to acknowledge everyone who has been important to me, but I will single out two people ... and they might surprise longtime readers with long memories.
Lisa Goss was one of the first people to send me an e-mail expressing disappointment that I was leaving. And last week, I was Judge John Clark Love’s guest at Rotary Club.
A few years back, both of them were victims of unnecessarily mean-spirited columns in this space. I’m ashamed of what I wrote about them now, but I learned a valuable lesson from those experiences: Personal attacks take the focus off the issue, so it’s not an effective way to start a conversation about ideas and solutions, which is really all I ever wanted to do. This week, I learned more lessons from them — about class and forgiveness.
Those are good lessons for all of us. I’ll remember them when I return. All I ask is that you remember me, then accept me back one more time.