“The moving Finger Writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.” - The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

 

And having writ, the “Old Clock on the Wall” tells me that it is indeed, time to be moving on. Great thanks to “Citizen” Publisher Gary Meyer for the opportunity to live and work among you for these past few years, and to my colleagues, old and new, at the paper for making this such fun.

 

It was a chance to get to know people from all walks of life in the community, the great and the good, the politicians, the educators, church congregations, pastors, public officials and the many who give so freely of their time and talents in service organizations.  You are all too many to name individually, but you know who you are, Jean Johnson, and you all know that I will think of you all fondly all the days of my life wherein, Spock-like, I intend to “Live long and prosper” and hope you do likewise.

 

Thanks also for giving me a place to share some of my stories from the Great White North, in hopes that you got a smile or two from the antics of us rubes up on the shores of Gitchee Gummi, the great inland sea that growls at the rock-strewn confluence of Northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.  

It was all true, I swear.

 

And thanks, too, to my long-serving spouse, “She Who Must Be Obeyed”, who is, I believe, coming to the end of her winter tether, regardless of how mild it has been so far.  In her sleep, I hear mutterings of place names like “Arizona”, and “Texas” and “the Bahamas”, clear indicators that she is more than ready to “follow the sun” in the immediate future, and solo, if necessary.  Add to that her subtle waking comments like: “We are in Minnesota in January so you can cover…” and the picture become clearer.

 

And so, at midnight on December 31, a new era dawns, at least in our household. Doubtless afloat on a dark sea of Guinness, I will raise a glass to the passing of another year, the passage from one life to another, and a joyous gallop into the sunset.

 

So here’s to us, and here’s to the guy who invented this job.