It’s that time of year again, the season of traditions and for giving thanks. Right now, you might be preparing yourself for all the work that comes with creating special holiday memories. You also might be making a list of blessings or jotting down ideas for social media posts that proclaim your gratitude.
If you haven’t seen it yet this year, maybe you remember the #ThankfulnessChallenge that usually flashes across social media feeds during November. It truly does a heart good to take stock, no matter how or where you do it.
For the past fifteen years, it has been my great privilege to have this space to share my gratitude. This year hits different, as it is my last issue as managing editor and my last column for Richmond Family Magazine. In honor of that and for readers out there who have gained something from my work here through the years, I’m going to share a few RFM-related things for which I am incredibly grateful.
Learning and growing.
When I first started making RFM, I was not the kind of person who picked up free magazines at the grocery store. Early in this creative process, I realized how much I was learning about parenting and about our region, right along with the magazine’s readers. Because my kids were nine, eleven, and thirteen when this journey began, there was still plenty of time to spend the night on the marble floor of the Science Museum of Virginia at a sleepover, see the Harlem Globetrotters perform at the now-condemned Richmond Coliseum, and explore almost every museum in our wonderfully diverse community. RFM truly is a fantastic resource for area families!
Working with rookie writers.
From the very first issue in October 2009, every RFM has had a Real Parent article. These op-ed parenting pieces by real moms and dads – not professional writers – were some of my favorite articles to work on as an editor. They covered everything from surviving sleepless nights as a new mom to how to get the most out of yard sale shopping to living with a chronic illness. Some of those rookie writers made the leap to writing feature articles in the magazine.
Wordsmithing and creativity.
My dad is the reason I am a writer and an editor. He loved language. He gave me the confidence to use words like “plethora” and “dispatched” in everyday conversation, and he inspired me to write my first book, an Ellery Queen-inspired mystery, when I was nine years old. My dad made up words that I still use fifty years after he coined them. Can you guess what a grunty-bomber is? Imagine a 6-year-old on a toilet trying her darnedest to poop. I try to make up words today (science-tastic and snacketizer, for example, are both in this issue), but when I search them on Google, I quickly discover I’m not nearly as clever as my father.
My dad never got to read RFM. He died around the time I signed on to be the editor of Richmond’s new family lifestyle magazine, way back in August 2009. I know he would have loved it, though, because of its fantastic writing.
Making my mom proud.
My mother was a tough critic, which is to say that she didn’t automatically love everything I wrote in RFM. In one of my Editor’s Voice columns, I referred to Halloween candy as crap. She told me that people like her spent good money on Halloween candy, and if I thought it was crap, I shouldn’t let her Golden Girls (my daughters) go trick-or-treating that year. As it happened, my mother made a lot of appearances in my writing over the years. I even found a way to share her top-secret pineapple cookie recipe in one of my articles (posthumously, of course). At my mom’s wake in my hometown in West Virginia, I can’t tell you how many tiny gray-haired women asked if I was the editor-daughter. They each told me how proud of me she was, which of course, I already knew.
Creating a high-quality product for so long.
Fifteen years at any job is a long time. Just ask Hoda Kotb, who announced she will be leaving Today next year, or Tony Bennett, who spent fifteen years (just like me!) as the head coach of UVA’s men’s basketball team before stepping down in October. While I can’t remember every article I edited, reader poll I developed, or headline I wrote for RFM, I will never forget the commitment that I sustained to editorial excellence and to reaching as many families as possible with every issue. I really considered my work a privilege!
So there you have it. Five things I’m grateful for related to my very special time at RFM. If you’re so inclined this holiday season, I highly recommend doing a #ThankfulnessChallenge of your own. I hope you’re able to include a balanced mix of family things, work things, and world things to help you connect with the true meaning of gratitude.
And for my last time – have a joyful holiday season and thanks for reading RFM!
