"Life By The Drop"

I got a telephone call today that left me feeling as if I'd been kicked in the stomach, when I was informed that the media company for whom I had worked before leaving to be a stay-at-home dad nearly a year-and-a-half ago was closing its doors for good.

Sure, this piece of news was about as surprising as hearing that Bill cheated on Hilary, but that didn't cause it to sting any less. This was a company that had never, during its eight year existence, operated very far above the break-even line. But still, I'm depressed. It feels like a childhood haunt that had been elevated into near mythical proportions has just been razed. A chunk of my life now vanished.

It wasn't just that this was the company that took a huge chance on me, fresh out of college — with zero experience, I might add; It wasn't that this was a job that I loved more than any I'd held before or since; It wasn't that the people employed by this company were some of the most loyal folks on the planet (sometimes delaying payment for services rendered in lieu of the satisfaction that could be had in doing a job extremely well and filling a niche in a community aching for some culture); It wasn't the freedom to shape the magazines I edited into whatever (within reason) I wanted; It wasn't that this job left me better than it found me and prepared me for life better than my college education ever could; It was all of these things, and more.

So, to Will, Lisa, and Brooks (and all of the unbelievably talented and creative people I worked with over the years): thank you, from the bottomest bottom of my heart.