Passing the two year mark

This past Thursday marked my two year anniversary with the Saratoga Sun and, to be honest, I didn’t even realize it until I was scrolling through Facebook that night. It doesn’t quite feel like it’s been that long since I first started working here. At the same time, it feels like much more time than that has passed since this summer. Time is weird that way; both speeding by and dragging along.

As I think about the past 24 months with the Sun, it’s hard not to think about all the different experiences I’ve had with this job. For starters, I never would have thought that I’d be leading, or attempting to lead, the newspaper into the new decade. While I occasionally had my thoughts about stepping into this position, it was always something possible in the distant future.

When I first started working for the Sun, I had a few people ask me if I was following in my mom’s footsteps or if I was going to do her job. At the time, I told them that wasn’t the case. I was coming onboard to do the one thing I always wanted to do for a career; write. The Sun already had leadership, anyway.

My how times have changed.

About four months into working for the Sun, I wrote a column about being in my mom’s shadow and working to come out of it. In that column, I wrote that I assumed I would be overcoming the title of “Liz’s son” as I began working for the newspaper that she ran for several years. I wasn’t wrong. In that first year, there had been more than one time that I’ve had someone refer to me in that manner.

I had a goal when I first started here, however, and that was to get people to separate the person my mother was from the person that I am. Four months in, I felt I was succeeding. Now, two years in, I feel that way even more. That’s not to say that I still don’t feel her presence from time-to-time in the office or that I still don’t feel like I’m in her shadow sometimes. Now, though, I sometimes feel like I have two shadows that I am working to get out from under.

Recently, I got a small preview of what it is like to begin casting my own shadow and making my own mark. A couple planning to move here stopped into the office to get a subscription to the Sun. As I greeted them, they asked, “You’re the publisher, aren’t you?” 

Fortunately, I was able to remember that, yes, I am the publisher. Even now, there are still many times where I continue to think of myself only as a reporter whose only job here is to write. Like I said, time is weird. I have to admit, however, that it was a nice feeling to be recognized as the publisher by relatively new readers.

With two years down, I’m looking forward to many more in this office and doing my best to lead the paper in representing the community. I can’t take all the credit, however, as I have a team that matches my passion for this mission and I couldn’t do this job without them. I am lucky enough that they trust me to lead them into this new year.

It’s something for which I am very thankful.