The traditional fifth wedding anniversary gift is wood. I am not sure what the traditional fifth anniversary gift is for a newspaper editor … but I will go with wood, too. Wood makes newsprint so it is perfect!

It was five years ago this month that I took on a job that I had no idea how to do, and some weeks it still feels that way! But for the most part I have struggled through, and for the most part it has been a wonderful experience.

Deadline … deadlines … this job is sort of like the movie “Groundhog Day.” You finish one thing and it starts all over again. And you don’t know excitement/stress until you have the newspaper pages all organized with content and … a large ad or obituary comes in and four more pages are added, and you need to start all over and come up with more content, and it is Monday afternoon!

Then there are weeks when you have a ton of material and only 12 pages, trying to choose what goes in and what waits until next week is challenging at times.

People that stop in on Mondays can see it in my eyes … the panic and if they have any compassion at all they will come back on Tuesday after 10 a.m.

I would like to thank all the people that stop me in the store and elsewhere and share their kind words of thanks and encouragement. I really appreciate it, because some weeks I really wonder why I bother spending the time to gather up all the community events, etc., and people still ask on Facebook when something is happening or what is going on somewhere. If they just took a few moments to read the paper, print and/or the webpage’s green edition, they would know!!

But you can lead a horse to water … etc.

Thanks also to all the businesses that continue to support the Forks Forum through advertising; without them, there would be no Forks Forum.

A big thank you too to Lonnie Archibald, for attending sporting events and sharing photos and just happening to be at the right place at the right time, taking other photos of interest to the community and sharing them with the Forum.

So year six, here I come. Former Forks Forum editor Chris Cook said an editor only has seven years at a paper because over that time they end up making too many people mad, so after seven years it is time to go. I am hoping I get more than that. I think my list of mad people is not too large … yet.

I am still striving to have a typo-free paper, but each week I give it a good try and then after it is printed … AHHHH! Why, why do I always see those mistakes after the ink is dry? It might be that deadline thing.

This week, I would also like to acknowledge the passing of my FHS English teacher, Spartan Gazette advisor and friend, Kathy Cunningham. I will miss her visits here at my office and the beautiful calendars she gifted to me each year showcasing her photography work. Kathy even had a few photos in the Forks Forum.

Kathy was a talented artist and I still have a necklace she made and gave to me for graduation, which was a long time ago. Thank you Kathy, for all your support, you will be missed.

Veterans photo pages

I would like to thank all that shared their veteran photos in last weeks edition and all the business that supported the special section.

Each year I get asked why certain veterans are not included. Photos are submitted by the veteran, a family member or a friend. I was asked why Al Tresh, Bataan Death March survivor, was not included; that is why. If anyone has a photo of Al I would love to include him next year.

Apologies to a few veterans that did submit photos and I somehow lost or deleted them; I will also blame that on deadlines, but really I just messed up!

Hello, Dave Robinson!

I recently received a Forks Forum subscription form from Dave Robinson who now lives in Indianola, Wa. He included a short note saying he misses Forks; Forks misses him too!

Thank you Dave, for subscribing to the Forks Forum, and thanks to all the other subscribers out there. You can take a person out of Forks but … Forks is just a special place.

See you next week, I hope!

— Christi Baron, editor