From the Publisher: Sightseeing

There’s nothing like a new year to help with sightseeing. Lest you think I am referring to upcoming vacation plans (trust me, I am not), the “sight”-seeing to which I am referring are the kinds we rarely think about. Those of hindsight and foresight, insight and the plain unsightly. If you’re anything like me, as one year wraps up and a new one begins, you take some time to think about the past year, reflecting on things that have gone well, and those that have not–the unsightly.

Thoughts turn to people we lost and wish we had not. One of those people, Joey Brown, is fresh on my mind because we’ve just lost him at the time of this writing. Joey, or Joe as he was referred to professionally, was my high school classmate and dear friend. After college, we worked together as the first two full-time paid staff members for KMVL radio when it signed on the air more than 30 years ago. As I looked back over some of the texts we exchanged before his death, we were reminiscing about that particular time in our lives and a “roadblock” we hit during the construction phase of the station. Joey said, “…but being the naïve kids we were, we plowed ahead!” Hindsight. And with it, special memories.

That time – before computers were in our hands24/7 – was a time when we still had the AP“wire service” as the fastest way to provide the national and statewide news. Joey said one of his favorite moments was the memory of the night Baby Jessica was pulled from the well out in Midland (Google it if you are too young to remember), and I was at the station relaying updates to him while he was broadcasting a Madisonville Mustangsfootball game. Simpler times. Not necessarily easier (some things were more difficult), but we figured out a way to make it work.

As I look forward to this year, I am full of hope. I hope I’ve had the foresight to plan well–to learn from the sightseeing lessons that have been provided to me this year. In some ways, I hope I am still that naïve kid who will plow ahead into areas unknown. May I venture into areas where I can be unafraid because, like the song my Daddy and Dale Underwood wrote, I know God’s Already There. And that kind of foresight is worth its weight in gold.2020. Let’s go sightseeing. Happy New Year!

Until next time, ~ Karen