End of an era

I got a phone call today from my friend Lauchlin telling me she's leaving her job at the newspaper. Finally, after 4 1/2 years there, a little over one without me even being there, the time has come. In the good old days when I first moved to Vicksburg, the two of us became inseparable - partly because she was the only other female reporter at the paper (well, the only one I really had anything in common with), and partly because we lived two blocks away from each other.

Long story short, we spent many a night talking on her front porch until the wee hours of the morning, then working through our hangovers the next day at work "under pressure" of looming deadlines. EVERY day was a Friday back then. Or at least that's what we pretended.

It's not that I wasn't friends with other people at the paper. There were plenty of people we hung out with, but only the two of us shared the burden of an impossible editor at the time, and our desks were right next to each other. Those were good times and good memories.

When I left the paper last year, she threw me an amazing going-away party, and I think we all celebrated a little too much that night. I even have video to prove it. Don't worry, Lauchy, I won't share details of the "shake it like a Polaroid picture" mishap. :)

I'm soooooo happy for her and so proud of her for making the big leap! It's tough leaving that place, mainly because of all the good people and good memories you leave behind. But the two of us are living proof that friendships don't end just because of a career change.

Anyways, I just wanted to share some of my very fond memories of our days at the newspaper. And someday we really will write our screenplay about it. We know that it'll make it to the big screen because obviously everybody wants to know what life is like at a small-town daily newspaper. Or at least we'd like to think so... :)