Sometimes I struggle with an idea for a column and other times words flow out of nowhere on the most random topics.
Take this week, I was alternating between staring off in general space and at the calendar.
After a good few minutes of metaphorically shaking my brain like an Etch-A-Sketch, I realized that next Friday is February 13.
So, I was curious about the last time February had a Friday the 13th.
With the help of Google and a little extra research, I learned that the calendar aligned for a February Friday the 13th in 2015.
Also, the next one is actually slated for 2037.
There seems to be an 11-year gap between Friday the 13ths in February and I found that fascinating.
It also prompted me to compare where I was in life at that time versus here.
February 2015 was still within our first calendar year of having the newspaper.
Now, it’s crazy to think we’ve managed to continue putting out a weekly product despite natural disasters, a pandemic, personnel fluctuations, and not to mention the myriad of personal interruptions.
Still, when I consider everything that happened to us directly or indirectly and the voices that were not supportive?
I’m glad that we have this avenue to keep residents and visitors informed either with a physical copy of the paper or digitally.
And while the majority of our readers are those that have been following Mike’s Matagorda County coverage since 1997, I’m completely comfortable with filling in the gaps as needed.
We have our rhythm and processes for producing an edition of the paper every week and between the three of us, I think we cover as much as we can.
Whenever someone asks me how we manage to do this job and that we make it look easy – I try not to laugh.
However, I’ll gently correct them and tell them that both Mike and I love to write and want to keep the public as informed as possible.
It’s a rare struggle when we have too much going on at once to get adequate coverage.
But, honestly, compared to when everything was shut down during the pandemic – this is preferable.
I just have to remind folks now and again that there are only three of us covering the entire county and can’t make every event.
Plus, it’s worse if we don’t know about events in advance!
Honestly, we need to be informed of an event at least two weeks in advance to adjust our schedules accordingly.
Outside of that, we’re racing the clock on our printing deadline and breaking news.
It’s a testament to juggling so many stories, pictures, and meetings that interject to send one of us out of the office to cover what’s going on and getting the most recent news shaped up for printing by Tuesday morning.
But, I wouldn’t have it any other way – well, except not having to endure comparisons with any other newspapers.
I think that since we’ve made it for more than a decade then we have proven that while our coverage area overlaps and we’re still a small, family-owned newspaper – we aren’t going anywhere and will be continuing our job.
Despite national trends, local newspapers are cornerstones and archival records of communities and I’m proud to be part of that history.
