Fond farewell

This is what I'd have to call "a red letter day" for me. This week's column marks the exact end of twenty years of writing it. January 1985 to January 2005. Twenty years of 52 weeks amounts to 1040 columns. How is the world did I come up with 1040 topics?

Well, truth is, I didn't. I wrote about some topics many times. To be completely truthful, 1040 is an exaggeration itself. I took a two-month break in 1989 during a rough patch I was having. I took another month break January 1999 when I was between newspapers. In February of that year I began my six-year tenure with The Bigfork Eagle along with the Hungry Horse News and the Whitefish Pilot.

An interesting side note is that I've seen a lot of publishers, editors, and reporters come and go during that time. I've seen many different personalities and styles in those people and must say I've been treated with respect and encouragement by all.

What was my favorite column? That's a tough one. I liked the one in May 1995 when my own dog, Sammy almost died. That one changed the way I looked at vet practice. I also remember fondly the night of June 15th, 1995 when I had "writer's block". It was the night before my wedding and I sat in my kitchen for an hour or so. Nothing came to mind. I finally just started writing a letter to my readers about how I was feeling. I got quite a bit of feedback from them on that one. They seemed to like the personal ones best.

Oh yes, my readers. That's what kept me doing it al those years. It was like I was writing a letter home to all of you each time I sat down. You wrote letters back, too. You'd stop me in the grocery store to encourage me or to offer a suggestion for a column, at least for awhile. I realized it is probably a good time for me to take a break, too. I have in mind the idea to organize some of them into a book. I think that would be fun.

So that's it then. Thanks to you, my readers, and thanks to the loyal and very supportive Bigfork Eagle staff. God bless you.