Just one year ago, the biggest quandary for many of us was how to get through the holidays without decking a gloating red neck relative wearing a MAGA cap. The challenge this year? How to avoid those painfully insufferable year-in-review retrospectives. It was bad enough the first time. Inflated inaugural crowd figures. Alternative facts. Muslim bans. Death and hate in Charlottesville. Scaramucci’s 10-day reign of terror. I’d rather have a colonoscopy without anesthesia than be forced to meander down that memory lane.
That’s why we are closing the shop for a few weeks and heading to a warmer clime, one where it is easier to tune the outside world out for a spell. By “we”, I am including Melissa, my lovely bride and diligent copy editor.
Together, we have produced 108 blog posts since initiating this endeavor in the fall of 2016. It has been the perfect retirement activity for me. I am congenitally unable to pound two boards together, paint (either a portrait or a wall), repair small machinery, hunt, fish or perform other manly arts. Since all the good mall benches were taken, I decided to give blogging a shot.
It has been an immensely enjoyable and rewarding experience. Researching various issues, thinking them out, and expounding on them – all without giving a hoot about a publisher’s profit margin – has been a dream come true. So thank you, dear readers, for making it possible to start a new “career” at this late stage of life. Old journalists don’t die, they just blog away! I will be back doing just that in late January. Meanwhile, Happy Holidays to all of you.
I love being your editor. 2018 here we come!
Thanks, Bruce. You deserve a rest and respite from year-end reviews. Enjoy your time away.