From Where I Sit: 34 years later

Lately, my column, like weddings and engagements, has started appearing in the Wednesday or the Friday edition of the newspaper.

At the beginning of the week, I was on a “do-nothing” vacation. It’s just like it sounds. I did nothing most of time except eat, sleep and watch television from the sofa, so I’d have an excuse to sleep some more. Consequently, the date of my 34th anniversary at The Messenger, which was Tuesday, passed by without my giving it a thought until I started thinking about writing my column this week.

I like to reminisce from time-to-time. Even though my anniversary has passed, I thought I might take this opportunity to do so.

Some things have changed in my 34 years at The Messenger, others have not.

Gone are the days when eager readers would come to the office, sit outside along the front of the building and wait to get a copy of the paper “hot off the press.” The press is gone. It was sold many years ago.

The office is still at 207 E. Carolina Avenue and is still identifiable as the light-colored building across from the Episcopal Church that I still see out the window from my desk. However, both The Messenger and St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church look nothing like they did on my first day on the job.

I’m in the same room, but the building has been remodeled and doesn’t at all resemble the way it looked 34 years ago. The church is in the same place, but it’s not the same church. The old sanctuary burned and was replaced by a new one. There is still parking on the street in front of the office just not angular parking.

The building next door is no longer a grocery store. And within the last month or so, the railroad building on the corner of the street was reduced to rubble.

On my desk, I still have the coffee mug with my initial on it that was given to me by the second news editor that I served under, Dick Puffer. I no longer drink coffee from the mug but use it to hold pens and pencils.

I’m still using the same spelling dictionary that I received many years ago. I don’t reference it as much as I once did. A computer spell check does the job. The method I use to write my stories has changed a lot since the days of the Underwood typewriter.

On the personal side, my hair is still red, just not as red as it was 34 year ago. My step isn’t as light or as quick as it once was, but I would like to think I’ve matured and become a better writer than I was 34 years ago.

I wrote a column when I first started to work here called Musings. I stopped when I had children because I didn’t want to bore my readers with weekly tales of how smart, cute and wonderful they were. In the last couple of years, I started back writing a column but with a different name and a different photograph, only because they wouldn’t let me get away with using the other one. I looked much thinner in the old one and had fewer wrinkles.

I would like to say that not a day goes by that I’m not appreciative of the opportunity I’ve had the last 34 years to tell the stories of this town and its people.

And from where I sit at my keyboard, it’s wonderful to carry on a conversation each week with all of you and to remind you of why Hartsville is a great place to live and work. This weekend alone, there are three festivals taking place, McLeod Farms Fall Festival, the Cotton Harvest Bluegrass Festival and the Coker Farms Fall Festival, all on Saturday. See you there.