Here's to 5 years

The road being my best place to think, I unceremoniously realized a milestone while cruising to our office in Sandusky Tuesday. This week marks the five-year anniversary of me living in Ohio. I remember when I announced I was taking a job as publisher of The Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin, I posted it on Facebook the night before starting. I woke up to a sea of comments and well-wishes from many of those in my life who helped get me to where I was. That first five weeks were a blur. I lived in a local hotel while I waited for our house to come vacant and for my wife and kids to finish their school year. I remember getting a crash-course on the A-T and leading a newspaper in general. There was so much I wanted to do when I got the keys to the small but mighty Tiffin paper. On my first anniversary, I also posted on social media. It was incredible how much changed in a year. I was now working primarily in Findlay, as I also became publisher of The Courier and the Review Times in Fostoria. Not to mention, we were in the first months of the dreaded COVID pandemic. It was one of those "look how much things changed in a year" posts. My anniversary likely passed without much fanfare in 2021, 2022 and 2023. I'm sure I talked about it with my family and close friends, but the marker of another year between my old life and my new life passed by without much bother. But it hit me this week while driving down that Ohio state highway, fields of soybeans on the left, corn on the right. Five years is quite significant. As happens, five years is enough to distance one from a previous life. Both my parents and Betsy's parents moved to Northwest Ohio in the past couple of years, meaning we have less of a magnetic force to our old stomping grounds in Northern Michigan. Five years is enough time to elicit natural weakening of previously tight bonds. Some of our old friends also have moved away, and some have drifted somewhat out of our life, names that pop up on a screen now only when our children have birthdays. Thus is the combination of proximity plus stage of life. Conversely, five years is enough to fortify a place as one's home. Our youngest daughter has now spent exactly half her life in Ohio, the math tilting more toward the Buckeye State each and every day. When we talk about people and places in our old state, she has only fuzzy recollections. Our oldest is entering high school, and her days frolicking with her pack of little friends is but a distant memory. Five years is enough to appreciate both what we had and what we have. Betsy has an impactful job where she gets to make a difference in students' lives every day. Our parents are nearby and healthy, a blessing not to be understated. Our girls are growing into tremendous young women. On the other hand, it's been a bit harder to break into this area as it was where we grew up. Making friends has been challenging at times, although I look everywhere and find valuable relationships. Our family has gone through the ups and downs that find everyone in life, but recognize the strength that has come from them. We survived an isolating pandemic in a new place and have moved from one city to another as my job evolved. It's been a lot, but I wouldn't take it back. We've grown closer as a family. Once, when we weren't quite ready to depart home, I discussed a job opportunity in another state with a former colleague. "When we moved, it was the best thing that's ever happened to our family," he said. Having to do life in a new place, I can say he was 100 percent right. I'm glad we're here. Professionally, I've always been guided by trying to make a difference. I have always wanted to work in newspapers, ones that are close to their community and can be of impact to the world around them. I look back at the landscape of the paper I proudly worked at for 14 years before Ohio, and see it drastically changed, a diminished product to what it once was thanks to the winds that sweep through this ever-changing profession. I'm happy I serve in places with proud newspapers that believe in serving their community. I love being part of that. Where the journalism of making a difference prevails. Where hope is presented through the embracing of modern marketing techniques. Where our employees are dedicated to this crazy profession, hopeful we keep figuring out how to bring news to multiple generations. I am thankful for those who read this column, for those who make their local newspaper a part of their day. I am thankful for those who run into me at the grocery store or at church and say "are you Jeremy from the paper?" I'm thankful for our employees, Betsy's co-workers and all those who are in the lives of our family. They say that the fifth anniversary is celebrated with a gift of wood. I'll take my piece of wood and knock on it. Here's to five more years, and all that life throws at us in between. Jeremy Speer is the publisher of The Courier, Findlay, the Sandusky Register, The Advertiser-Tribune, Tiffin, the Norwalk Reflector and Review Times, Fostoria. He can be reached at jeremyspeer@thecourier.com.