Van Ree Report

During my time at the Sidney Sun-Telegraph I have described two skills that I greatly lack – decision-making and memory.

But I have left out one skill that I am completely horrible at, and that is saying goodbye.

I have found that the best and worst goodbyes are those that you never get to make or decide not to.

I think that unless it is the unfortunate circumstances of a family member passing, sometimes not saying goodbye is the best way, for me personally, to handle leaving a person or situation.

After all, they always say “it’s not goodbye, it’s see you later.”

I think for my situation at least, Sidney is a small enough town that that statement is true and I will see most of my coworkers and acquaintances again in passing before I leave Nebraska.

However, it won’t be the same.

Starting tomorrow I won’t be waking up at 5 a.m. to continue working on the articles I didn’t get to finishing the night before.

I won’t be stumbling into the office around 8 a.m. to the smiles and ‘Good Mornings’ of our office staff.

I won’t be sitting down at my computer, looking at the overnight emails – some pleasant, some not so pleasant.

I won’t be typing as fast as my little fingers can jet until deadline at 11 a.m., proofreading my material over and over – knowing there must be something that I forgot to add or change.

Moving on from the Sidney Sun-Telegraph will be a challenge for me because it is what brought me to this town and to the people of Sidney.

But it also led me to the next step in my adventure.

Novelist and poet Jack Kerouac once said, “What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? -- it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.”

I am more than excited to start a new chapter in my life and to challenge myself in ways that I couldn’t at the paper.

Through my time at this newspaper I gained so much knowledge about city government, law enforcement, businesses, people from all walks of life – everything.

No matter what my future entails, I know that the career choice I made to move here, start over and try to succeed, is something that will help me in the future and is an experience I will never forget.

I’d like to thank the overwhelming, supportive community of Sidney for accepting me and reading my material, everyone who I interviewed and met who helped me grow as a person, and the Sun-Telegraph for providing me with a platform to attempt my first career and for giving me the choice to drown or flourish in it.

I will miss reporting on topics and trying my best to keep the city informed, but this life change of mine is something I need to do and I will only grow from here.

Like I said before, I won’t say goodbye. Instead I will say ‘see y’all later,’ because for me there is no real easy way of saying goodbye.

Author John Green once said, “I do not say goodbye. I believe that’s one of the bullshitiest words ever invented.”