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From time to time I like to look back a year, three years, even five years to see what I was writing about.. I stumbled across my 2020 column from this week.   

Here it is in a nutshell:
“So here I sit... staring at my screen.  Where do I begin? As I try to think of something witty to say about the world and more importantly our local situation.. for the first time in my life I am at a loss for words.  So many emotions on every level.

(Deep breath) okay...here goes... The Chisago County Press is your local news outlet.  We are here to report facts and important local happenings as much as humanly possible.  We are NOT here to spread fear - we too listen to scientists and not the over-the-top fear mongering newscasts (not all but a lot of them).  
We want to get through this. With you.  We WILL get through this - ALL of us.  We will do our best to connect you locally and let you know there is a world outside that will one day (hopefully sooner than later) return to life as we know it. “

What a ride it has been.  I admit there were times I sat up at night wondering is this the end for the Press?  I mean, who knew how long our economy would be shut down by government orders.  How long could we last?  As many of you probably felt, it was the worst feeling ever.  Impending doom.  

Yet, just as the sun comes up every day, here we are - on the other side of the long dark tunnel.  We learned a lot over that couple of years, and alot about our friends and neighbors.  My grandmother always told us about the great depression and we would pretend to be interested. We now have our own story to tell our grandchildren so they can roll their eyes at us.  I am glad we made it - I am glad you made it.  Thank you to all of the readers and the advertisers that pulled us through - you are appreciated.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of you.  Unfortunately we will celebrate it with 80 inches of snow this year.  I remember a while back having friends over sitting at our picnic table in 80 degrees on St. Patrick’s Day...what a stark difference!  Either way, the beer tastes good. Sorry I’m Irish.

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