It is with some sadness that I sit down to write my column this week, as this is the last week I will be doing so.
Thanks to an unexpected opportunity to advance my career, I will be saying farewell to The Observer, and you, our loyal readers, after two-and-a-half wonderful years.
While advancing your career is always an important aspect of being a professional, it does nonetheless come with some downsides, not the least of which being, as I must do, you find yourself bidding farewell to people and places that, frankly, you don't always want to say good-bye to.
If you had asked me in the year 2007 where I saw myself in three years, I think it is likely that the answers 'Carlyle,' or 'Saskatchewan' would have been exceedingly low on my list.
It isn't that Carlyle isn't a wonderful community, nor that I had anything against Saskatchewan, but it was not where I saw the path of life leading me.
However, as things often do, fate, fortune, or whatever different force you like to apply to those major changes in life's path, saw fit to create a situation in my old home of Windsor that set my eyes looking to different settings.
My mother, a born-and-raised Saskatchewan girl from the community of Battleford, had a simple answer for me when I came seeking parental advice.
"Go west young man!" she effectively said, as the communications network of family members had kept her appraised of the rising fortunes the province of Saskatchewan had been seeing.
In short order, and thanks to a large bill-board sign on Jefferson Ave. just south of Tecumseh Rd. East in Windsor, I started searching the Saskjobs.ca website for suitable placements.
I had cast a wide net during that rather feverish job search, applying for positions in Ontario, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and the UK.
I had been fortunate in my studies to have taken some economic courses close to the end of my time at the University of Windsor, and even then, half-a-year or more before the housing collapse kicked off the worst recession in recent history, the majority of educated voices in academia were sounding the alarm bells.
Windsor, of course, is an industrial town, its fortunes tied hand-and-foot to the market demand for finished (especially automotive) goods.
In other words, when the economy starts sniffling, Windsor catches the flu.
So I was already plumbing the job markets outside of Windsor when things got really bad, so it wasn't all that long after things started turning ugly that I came upon a listing for a reporter/photographer in the community of Carlyle, SK.
As I had said, I was casting as wide a net as I could to find an equitable position that would get me away from ground-zero of the economic bomb (ie Windsor.)
I had been applying for jobs in provincial and federal bureaucracies, business management and research positions (I had done that for a number of years,) and lastly, media.
While never a full-time reporter, and having no formal education in media, I had been submitting freelance radio and print stories for about 15 years at the time I was job hunting back in 2008.
It was on the strength of that experience (admittedly though, I had filed more stories in my first three months in town than I had in the entire 15 years previous) that I came to the community of Carlyle.
Moving here I was at first a little concerned about my ability to adjust to this new environment.
Having travelled a lot in previous years, I had had the opportunity to become a resident in a number of different cities and countries.
I had lived in the US, a few different places around Canada, Germany and Italy.
Always though, it is important to note, in an urban setting.
So coming to a rural area was a culture shock for me at first, and one that I didn't know how I would adjust to.
As it turned out, I like to think I adjusted relatively well, and more importantly, I came to love the town, region, and people who populated it.
So while I have to bid you, our loyal readers, a sad adieu, I shall be seeing you again most likely.
Despite the fact my new position is located out-of-town, my wife and I have decided that Carlyle and the area has become enough of a home to us that we are not leaving.
