So long, farewell
My life has been in an extreme state of flux the past several weeks, to say the very least.
With resigning this job, interviewing for a new one, and planning a jaunt to Europe, my head has been spinning. No wonder Dr. Scharenberg says those headaches I get on the sides of my head are stress headaches.
But clarity has finally come my way this week, and I can at last share with you what comes next for Jennifer Lynn Wilson (that's me).
As you know, this is my last issue working for the Hillsboro Star-Journal. It's also my last newspaper — for a month, at least.
Because next week I'll board a plane in Kansas City, then ten hours or so later I'll disembark in London, England. Heathrow, to be exact.
Yes, I'm going to Europe. Hard to believe.
This trip is one of those things that you dream of your entire life but never think it'll actually happen. Well, I decided to make it happen.
I'm sure that the month I spend overseas won't exactly be the most restful vacation. I'll have to navigate huge cities on public transportation systems I've never seen before. I'll talk (or try to talk) to people who don't speak a smidgen of English.
It'll be challenging and amazing. My tentative itinerary takes me through London, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. And I'm traveling cheaply — hostels and grocery stores instead of four-star hotels and restaurants.
The trip will also be a journey into my family roots. In London I'll stay with a second cousin, and in Italy I'll visit the Tuscan town where my grandfather grew up.
Of course I'm not rich, so after a month my travels will cease and I'll return to reality: a job in the United States with a regular paycheck.
What is this job? I'll be a reporter at the daily paper in Amarillo, Texas. I know what you're thinking: No, it's actually not as hot as Kansas. Yes, it has a Krispy Kreme donut store.
(Well, maybe you weren't thinking that last one.)
But it's been really weird to think about leaving the Star-Journal.
This job, without a doubt, has been the most stressful, challenging, difficult, rewarding, crazy job I've ever had. Don't let anybody ever tell you that working at a weekly newspaper is easy — they'd be dead wrong.
I've faced unbelievable stresses in my job, but I've also met a ton of amazing people.
Here are a few of them: Donna and Tracy at the high school office, who put up with my million phone calls per day. Marcella Bruce, who always looks classy and could make burlap look good. Pastor Stephen Humber, who always shared his swimming pictures with us (and he took quite a few). Jared Jost, who has such a servant's attitude toward his work and the people he deals with.
And of course there's everybody here in the office: Cathy, Sara, Mel, Wayne, Jane. I'm not sure I can write tons of flowery things about you guys, because I'd just get embarrassed when I have to look you in the face.
I knew that anything I could ever write about Hillsboro wouldn't necessarily be taken to heart — that's because I'm an outsider, raised in Salina. I could probably live here for 30 years and still have that tag.
But let me say this: Hillsboro, you have a good town. Many good qualities.
Please don't let these qualities boost up your ego to an unbearable height.
Many of you claim to be Christians. In fact, probably very few of you wouldn't claim to be Christians.
But the reality is that in a place where everybody is supposed to be religious, that is not the case. I should know — I went to a large conservative Christian school, and there were students there who weren't what they appeared to be.
I am by no means flawless. I have problems out the wazoo just like everybody else.
But it helps to remember this Bible verse James 1:22: "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."
It's incredibly easy to "talk the talk" of the religious person. But do we also "walk the walk?" Just something to consider.
Finally, a word to our readers: Thank you for subscribing to the Star-Journal. Thank you for reading our work.
Before I came to work for a weekly, I didn't think much about the readers, to be honest. They were just people that lived "out there," almost people without faces.
But here I've come to know many of you. And I have felt personally responsible when you put three quarters into the machine, knowing that you didn't have to.
So when you paid for your year's subscription, I was grateful. And it motivated me to do the best job possible here, because you've spent your hard-earned money on this paper and you deserve the best.
I know I haven't always done my best. But I have tried, and I guess that's all anybody can do at the end of the day.
Take care.
— JENNIFER WILSON
