Winds of change

So it has been about nine months since my last entry. Blame it on Facebook.

I haven't really felt the need to jot down/type my thoughts lately, as there has been a lot of bad news, mostly at work. There have been retirements of legends, buyouts, furloughs, insurance hikes, transfers, universal copy desks. Blah, blah, blah. Not sure I wanted to talk about it out loud.

All of this before I even mention that I don't think anyone is reading this anyway. ;)

Now, this weekend, beginning today, is supposed to be different. It's supposed to be a happy time. Come Monday, when I begin my new gig in St. Tammany Parish (what some people have called God's Country), I'll be excited and reinvigorated. I am very much looking forward to start a new challenge. No question I'll be a little nervous.

Today, though, is sad. While Monday is a new beginning, today is an end. We all know how conservatives feel about ends. Usually, they don't like them. It's no different for me. Although I know I am moving ahead with my life, and am making the best possible career choice I could make at this time of crossroads, it's hard to leave.

I guess it shouldn't considering that no longer will I be working nights or holidays or weekends, which will leave me lots more time to spend with my family. No longer will I have to schedule my vacations around sporting events I want to watch from my den or attend. Rather, I can use my free time for whatever the Metry Mama and I want to do.

Yep, I should be ecstatic. I should be leaping for joy when I turn off Howard Avenue tonight. But I won't. I will think back. Not just today, but all weekend. All month. Maybe for a lot longer than that.

I have made many friends along this 19-year journey that had a brief stop on the news side as a designer. For as long as I can remember being able to turn on a television, I have been a sports fan. How many fans get to work reading and writing about football and basketball and baseball games? Oh yeah, and even wrestling, eight-year-olds boxing and women's darts.

I wrote about the Final Four. The Sugar Bowl. The NBA playoffs. The New Orleans Saints. LSU winning its third national championship in football. I put together special sections on LSU's title run in 2004 and a Super Bowl.

I've done all that. And now, I am moving on.

Still, it's not the events. It's the people. It's the friends I have made. It is the routine of spending so much of your life with them. They are, in essence, family.

Maybe that's it. Things won't be the same when someone makes a boneheaded play -- or an awesome one, for that matter. The ooohs and ahhhs won't have the same zing to them. The laughs won't be as loud. The sarcasm won't be as thick.

It's certainly true. Every time I see one of those plays in the future, I'll think about being at my desk on a Saturday night. Only I probably won't have to worry about what's for dinner.

Yes, change is coming. It's for the better. It just won't be the same.

Talk to ya soon, my friends.