December 12 – Five years ago, I asked my boyfriend to move five hours from where we had lived all our lives to a railroad town in southwestern Iowa. “It’s not forever,” I told him.
So many milestones happened during our time in Creston. Patrick and I were engaged and then married. We got another dog, weathered a pandemic, and met so many wonderful people.
But like I told him all those years ago, it was never meant to last forever. Neither of us thought we would be here this long.
This means I will be saying goodbye to this community and my position as senior editor for the Creston News Advertiser. It’s such a bittersweet feeling. While I dread saying goodbye to the many people I’ve met, it also means I get to say hello to friends and family who have been so far over the past five years.
Since Patrick is a certified officer in Iowa, we decided to stay in the state. He accepted a job with the Dubuque County Sheriff’s Office, which prompted our departure.
It puts us less than an hour away from my parents and just a little further from his father. Many of our closest friends will live within an hour’s drive. I also worked in Dubuque for three years before moving to Creston, which gave me a network of friends in the city itself.
I always thought that when we left Creston, we wouldn’t leave anything worth returning for; we would drive out of Cherry Street Road and never look back. Now I know that’s not true.
Through Patrick’s work, we have become part of a special family of officers, deputies and their families. I watched my friend Anna overcome infertility and deliver her beautiful baby Willow. I can’t imagine a world where I don’t see them anymore.
I met a kindred spirit in Erin. The day we interviewed her, she told me that she had read a semi-obscure book series that I love so much that I have a quote from it tattooed on my leg. I knew we had to hire her next.
We met Peyton, a friend who followed her dreams and became Creston’s only female officer. She always gets comments from children that girls can be police officers.
Our news assistant Mandy does so much behind the scenes, but that doesn’t make her that great. It’s her sarcastic sense of humor and her ability to accept and deliver insults with a smile on her face.
I met the people of Creston when I was running Starbucks. I can still point to some of you and take your drink orders off the top of my head.
But it was at the newspaper, and especially as sports editor, that I became entrenched in Creston. Not only did I meet the children, I also met the parents. I got to know the teachers, administrators, and everyone involved in the smooth running of CHS.
I took up sports and knew little about the children. I have misnamed children, misspelled names, and made mistakes. But no one has ever made me feel small because of these mistakes. They brought me in and helped me learn. They made me part of the family.
Last year’s graduating class and parents will always have a special place in my heart. They were the epitome of a selfless group of kids. It never felt like a child was chasing his own accolades.
It’s time to admit that I have consistently broken the cardinal rule of sports reporting. I cheered. Sometimes quiet, sometimes not so quiet. Watching the boys lose in the state football semifinals was a low point in my career. I could see how heartbroken they were to see the trip come to an end.
But just months later, I was sitting on the couch with the kids as Jagger Luther won the final state wrestling match and made the team Class 2A dual-team state champions. It will go down as the highlight of my time in Creston Sports.
My next steps are up in the air. Although I would like to continue what I am doing now, I cannot open up any jobs. I have a few applications in for relevant fields, but I know I will be fine as long as I have Patrick by my side.
Thank you Creston for taking me in, teaching me and making me part of the family.
