Beautiful fall reminds of blessings past and present

BY JOE B. COATES
Publisher
Being the publisher of a community newspaper has its perks, its privileges, its flexibility and many other great benefits.  I get to meet new people just about everyday and talk fondly about this newspaper and what it means to me and this community.  I get to leave the confines of this office throughout the day to check on different things around town and so on.
From time to time my stress level rises because of missed deadlines, or a story we didn’t cover, or not changing the date on the front of the new week’s paper (like last week–my apologies), or having to field phone calls and visitors during our crunch time and so forth.  Sometimes I just need to leave the office for a few minutes and drive around town…ridin’ and lookin’, as some folks say.
This time of year is my favorite time to ride and look.  I’ll get out and drive around the neighborhoods around our communities and sometimes even out in the country, just lavishing over the beautiful fall colors along our streets, country lanes and even the major routes through the county.  I may stop and take a couple of pictures of some especially breathtaking scenery, or simply just slow down and soak it in, reminded of all blessings in my life–my beautiful and sweet wife,my children who have their moments, but are very loving kind and good kids in general, my Mom and Dad and siblings and their families, and my in-laws and their families.  
I’ve never been in a job where I’ve been ‘stuck behind a desk all day’, and I don’t imagine I’d be able to handle it.  I’ve worked in chicken and milk processing plants where the work required me to be in the building most all day, and even into the wee hours of the morning, and I hated it.  I’m approaching the seventeeth anniversary of the day I began working here at the Courier.  Former owner Jim Lambert hired me as an account executive in November of ‘96 and I began work here on December 2.  Thankfully, when current owners Henry and John Carney purchased the Courier in November of ‘02, they kept me on and moved me into the position I hold today.
So, Autumn and all of its glory gives me great pleasure and is a great reminder of the blessings in my life.  Won’t you join me in ridin’ and lookin’ and taking in the season’s splendor?