However you want to say it, I've got more to do. I'm under no delusion, I am going to die. I'm going to die sooner than any one, including myself, would've thought. It could be a month. It could be a year. Cancer is going to kill me. But it's very important to note that this is not over yet.
Tomorrow I will work my last shift of work. Probably forever. I will start my shift at 6 p.m. and end it Thursday morning at 2 a.m. at KMTR. This "job" has rivaled working at The Glenwood. A very scarce few know that statement says a lot for me. It says that I've developed real friendships. Relationships that will still be with me on that final day when I pass on. It says I've been touched in ways I never expected and had experiences that mean the world to me. I will take a part of this building, and these people, with me and, hopefully, leave something behind.
I think you should know that the people here have been amazing to me. There's a reason for that... they're amazing people. You should know that the reporters at KMTR have little memories in their cubicles. Not trophies from stories. But reminders of the people who's lives they have intertwined with. Camera men have buttons and pins that bring them memories. Reporters have pictures of people who have died, lived, drawing from children. It seems, to me, that even when the stories are over these people keep a part of it with them. I am a better person for having worked here and wouldn't change a thing... except for the leaving.
Tomorrow night, Thursday morning more accurately, when I leave here I will drive a little ways away and then cry for a while. I will mourn the loss of a family I never expected and of being part of a team that truly cares about the cities they cover and the people who live there. If you're looking for local news that is not only concerned with winning the ratings, but is concerned with the people they cover, then you should watch KMTR.
So I will leave, drive and cry for a while. But this is not over yet. This is just the beginning of something new. Of new opportunities for joy, for laughter and for music. Of special moments of love with my wife. Memories are still to be made, and I intend to spend whatever time I have left making them.
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."from The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
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