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The words “coming home” have always been ones that conjure up warm thoughts in my mind. They are the words that come to my mind right now as I let you know that I am leaving the Voyageur Press to “come home” to my family in Lowry. My last day was Wednesday, January 11th.

The importance of being home more with my wife and two boys (our oldest son, Neil, resides in Grand Forks) has been heavily on my mind since I was diagnosed with colon cancer in August. As I have reported in a previous column, I am cancer-free right now and my energy level has returned. I feel very blessed by what has happened.

I also know that life can be very short and it is critical that I am able to spend as much time with family as possible. That includes my sons’ athletic events which I have not been able to attend, for the most part. Thus, my decision to leave this position and return to Taylor Publishing Company, who contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I would come back.

One of the real benefits of working for Taylor Publishing is that I will still be able to travel right through all of the towns in this area. That is important to me because I truly love the beauty of northern Minnesota. It will also give me an opportunity to stop in to see some of the great people I have worked with during my time at the Voyageur Press. So this is not goodbye, in some ways. It is “see you later.”

I believe it is important to recognize people and praise them for being the individuals they are, but I will not do that in this column because, quite simply, I don’t want to leave anyone out. If I could, I would list every person’s name and tell you, our readers, about the great people I have come in contact with during my time here. Rather, I will simply extend a heartfelt thank you to all of you who have made me feel welcomed during my stay here. To the business people and advertisers, many of whom have supported the paper since the beginning, thank you so much. It is important to let people know they are appreciated and, quite often, we don’t do that enough. So, again, I say thank you for your tremendous support of the Voyageur Press.

I know for a fact that it is God’s timing that I move on to a new opportunity right now. I accept that and I look foward to the new opportunities that await me. So I will say, in conclusion, that I will see many of you again and I am thrilled about that. You can also be happy for me because I am coming home.

This article first appeared in the January 17 issue of the Voyageur Press.