Posted: 6/4/03

After four years of covering sports in Forest Lake. it's time for a change

It is so true that as you get older, time goes so much quicker.
Itís hard to believe it was four years ago this week, in fact, that I began working at the Forest Lake Times. And as wonderful of an experience as it has been to fill these pages with the accomplishments of local athletes, itís time for a change.
This is my last week, and subsequently last issue of the paper, with the Forest Lake Times. I wish I could say I was leaving for ESPN, as my predecessor did. I would even settle for Sports Illustrated or, quite frankly, something as simple as the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Iím not, though. Itís for a rather selfish reason that Iím walking away for the keyboard. Itís just time to go home and be closer to family.
It was eight years ago my wife and I moved to Minnesota and weíve loved every minute of it ñÝwith the exception of our first winter. Both of our children were born here and we never ñ ever ñ dreamed of leaving.
Until November, when the sudden death of my father forced us to take a step back and reorganize just where our priorities stood.
It was shortly thereafter that we decided it was time to go home, be close to our families and complete the round trip we started back in 1995.
On Saturday, we will walk into our new home in suburban Omaha, NE, full of excitement about the future while dealing with the broken hearts weíll suffer while leaving so many life-changing people and memories behind us.
My family has been blessed by the manner in which things have fallen into place for us during this time of transition. In a sense, we feel itís an acknowledgement that weíre making the right decision in following our hearts when our minds often times questioned what we were doing.
My wifeís career has been able to make a seamless transition and the events of November have given my brother and I both the inspiration and opportunity to walk away from what we would like to consider successful careers to begin a sports marketing and promotions business.
Any future success I have, however, will never be able to fill the void left by walking away from Forest Lake.
I left what I thought was a once-in-a-lifetime experience eight years ago when I walked away from my hometown newspaper. In fact, I remember telling the coaches I worked with then that I was certain I would never find a better place or group of people to work with.
Forest Lake made a lair out of me.
I was tempted to try and thank as many people as I could with my final column, but I think everyone understands, especially each and every coach I worked with on a weekly basis, just how much Iíve enjoyed those relationships.
I have been infinitely impressed with the professionalism, integrity and passion for kids that all the coaches in Forest Lake have. I only hope the community fully appreciates the caliber of coaches we have here. To a person, the Forest Lake coaches are among the very best people I know and I wish you all well and look forward to keeping up with your teams in the future.
Throughout the community, Iíve also been fortunate enough to meet so many wonderful people. I have appreciated these relationships, from those of you who have faithfully sent pictures my way to those of you who have simply had kind words to pass along.
No place is perfect, but Forest Lake is full is outstanding people and as this community continues to grow it is only bound to get better.
I also want to thank Becca Schleder for her passionate support of Forest Lake sports. Every fan should be like you. By the way, Becca, Chuck Gunderson has told me he wishes you would call him much more often to talk about swimming. Please make a point of doing that. It would make me very happy.
I would be remiss if I didnít also applaud the talented and hard-working individuals I have worked with these past four years. There has never been a day when I havenít wanted to come to work, and thatís a tribute to those around me making this a great place to work.
It has been a blessing and a privilege to work under Cliff Buchan. My departure from this newspaper simply left a position to be filled. The day Cliff decides to put down the pen and notebook he will leave a void ñ not just at this newspaper, but in the community ñÝwhich will not be replaceable. As great of a newspaper guy as he is, heís an even better man, and I will sorely miss our baseball banter, among many other things.
The only thing more unique than Jessica Foster herself is her incredible writing talent. Her ability can easily be underappreciated at a small newspaper like this, but her capabilities for conveying a story, especially the ones that tug at your heart and your imagination, are spectacular. Sheís destined to be a great author. Now, if she would just get around to writing that damn book!
As this column draws to an end, may I just say that I have had the time of my life over the past four years. Iíve covered great athletes, even greater people, and Iíve tried to always be fair and consistent.
My packing may be complete, but I am still in the process of finishing my box of Forest Lake memories this week. Aside from my family, it will be the most cherished thing I take with me.
So, with this, I turn the sports pages over to the very capable hands of Joe Drennan, who I know will make everyone forget about me by the end of the month, even though Iíll never forget Forest Lake.

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