Time To Reconnect

I don’t know about you, but I nearly cried last week when I read Ted’s farewell. I have read all his books—his young adult fiction like A Yellow Watermelon and three others in the series…actually I’ve read five in the series, I think. And, I’ve read his novels that had not previously been published until he serialized them in this newspaper. I enjoy Ted’s writing, and I have enjoyed getting to know Ted and his wife Dianne. Jasper County will miss them…well actually we already do.

Myself and reporter/copy editor/staff member Susan Jacobs are going to try to fill in this space, now that Ted has moved on. We welcome your feedback—good and bad, and hope that you will be instrumental in providing us with ideas of what to write about. I know some people turned to this page first when they got their newspaper to read Ted’s column, and some never read it.

That’s the nature of newspapers…there is something for everyone. There’s school news to appeal to parents and grandparents, with children in school. There’s church news to keep us abreast of special things happening in local churches. There’s the ever-so-sad obituaries that some of us read first. Some readers like the games we occasionally feature, and will bring back crosswords, Suduko, or whatever, if we get feedback requesting it. Please tell us what you like and don’t like.

And in the meantime, you’ll get to know us better, and hopefully make you want to read your newspaper even more, although I realize personal columns aren’t going to be great every week, but maybe they will be worth the time to read them most weeks.

I am writing these words way past deadline because this was an unusual week. People familiar with the weekly newspaper business know that tensions are high on Tuesdays and Wednesday morning, and there is plenty of work to do in-between. Columns should be written in the down time, saving those other hours for the latest news.

However, I went to Colorado last week as my youngest daughter, Emily, had a pinning ceremony Friday evening, and graduation Saturday afternoon. My daughter is a nurse! Of course, she must take the Inclex before she can actually go to work, but she’s real close. All those years of waitressing are paying off.

Those who know Emily know she has always wanted this. However, her first try she had some difficulty, made some bad choices, and did not make it through nursing school. She persevered, and got a bachelor’s degree anyway, but it was in anthropology. (Don’t ask.)

Fast forward a few years. Emily met C.J. Cash, a young man from Newnan. They decided they wanted to strike out…move to Colorado. C.J. had a friend there and so did Emily. So, they went. After a short time, Emily decided to check into going back to school. She found a program at the University of Northern Colorado that offered a B.S.N. program for people who already had a bachelor’s degree. She was accepted into the program. And, she and C.J. decided to marry, and came back to Georgia for a beautiful wedding in March of 2017. But, not too much time off, and back to the grind of school and work.

Well, all that dedication and hard work paid off last weekend. And, unbeknownst to me beforehand, she graduated magna cum laude. We’ll have the graduation write-up in next week’s paper, cause I’m too far behind this week to get it in. But, I am one proud mama.

You other proud mamas are encouraged to submit your child’s achievements to the newspaper for inclusion. E-mail to info@themonticellonews.com, or come by 247 West Washington St. Call us at 706-468-6511.

Those of you who choose to read this column, I’m sure will hear more about Emily as well as my other children. Hannah is my only other birth child. She and her husband, Caleb, got married earlier this year, and just returned from a delayed honeymoon trip to Italy. I’ll probably mention them more than once, too.

They live here in Monticello, just down the street, and she helps me a lot with the newspaper. Many of you have read articles written by Hannah…heck we may even talk her into an occasional column.

I also have three stepchildren that may enter into this space. For those who don’t know I re-married in 2002…a wonderful man named Jimmy Mudd. He had three children, Mandy, Jessie and Jim. Mandy is married with two grown children, and Jessie was married, and has two children in Jasper County schools. Jim lives in Locust Grove and works with his dad in the pool business. He is still single.

Stay tuned, I’m sure you will hear more about them in the weeks and months ahead.