Monday, May 21, 2012
It's official. I'm done.
As of Oct. 13 - the day after my birthday - I was told I had become a statistic. As a cost-cutting measure at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, I've been laid off. After seven and a half years, this is my final entry for the newspaper.
There are questions, and there should and will be answers, most definitely. This is a stark and sad reality of what is happening to newspapers - that we're beholden to the almighty dollar. Here and at other newspapers and even in other industries. I've seen my friends go. I've seen my confidantes move on to other stages of their lives. Some have become parents. Others have become lawyers or professors or teachers or pundits. Some have continued to be journalists, though in other mediums.
I know what I'll do in the next two weeks. I'll sleep in. I'll ride my bike. I'll clean out my closet. (Is there anyone who needs a pair of gently worn, size 11 heels? They'll need a good home ...) I'll watch a hockey game without taking notes for the first time in seven and a half years ... and for a couple weeks, that should be a refreshing change.
Most importantly, I will get to spend more time with my husband, Tom. He has been nothing but supportive since the day we met - July 7, 2005 - and I owe him that much, if not more.
In the end, this was nothing of my own doing, nothing that was in my power or in my control. I'll leave the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram knowing that I gave my best every day to my coworkers and to our readers, whether I wrote a story or posted a blog (or fielded an angry phone call) or did yet another interview.
Yet, I'll miss interacting with the athletes and staff at the University of Maine. And I'll miss the long drives up I-95 - I joke that between Waterville and Orono, there's a lot of time to think.
I tear up as I write this part. I'll miss the people I've met. I'll miss my coworkers, like Mike Lowe, Deirdre Fleming, Jim Patrick, Paul Abramowitz, Hal Madsen ... They're my friends, too.
I'll rebound and land somewhere. Maybe it's time to have children. Maybe I'll write a book. Maybe I'll find a new city. Maybe (I hope) I'll be covering hockey again.
But I will always have my passion for sports, for writing and for interacting with so many people, whether I go back to writing or start a new chapter in life. But I know this much.
I'm not a statistic, and I'm not a number. None of the 63 who are leaving the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram are. We're pretty dynamic people who have the opportunity to go in a new direction.
To everyone, here's to the best in the next step of your journey.
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