Does anyone else feel like this time has been a little bit like the movie “Ground Hog Day”? I’ve read several tweets referring to this time as the same day happening over and over, just like the classic 1993 movie starring Bill Murray.

If you have lived in Craig since 2002 you might have seen my byline in today’s Craig Press and wondered if an 18-year-old Ground Hog Day was in effect. I ‘m writing to assure you that despite the blast-from-the-past byline, today is a new day.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been in Craig since 2002. For the past 14 years I’ve been the Young Life Area Director but before that I was the sports editor for the Craig Daily Press. I moved to Craig for my first real-world job and I still have fond memories of my time primarily writing about Moffat County High School athletics.

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I left the paper to pursue a calling to youth ministry through Young Life, but I stayed connected with the Press. Since leaving I’ve delivered papers, taken photos and on occasion, I’ve written some articles. Also, until recently, the Young Life office was upstairs in the Press’s building. I was never too far away.

Like many of you, my life has looked different during the quarantine. My Young Life work and staying-at-home with six children has kept me plenty busy, but it has been a different type of busy. Typically the spring is the busiest time of year for me because I also coach high school track (a loss I still haven’t been able to fully mourn) and I have other responsibilities with Craig Rotary, the Craig Ministerial Alliance and child taxiing. With those responsibilities gone like early-quarantine toilet paper, it felt like I had more time on my hands.

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When Press Publisher Sheli Steele approached me a couple of weeks ago to ask if I could dust off the reporter notebook my initial thought was, “I’m still pretty busy.”  After further thought I realized I could make some time to enter back into my first career on one condition — please don’t send me to a bunch of meetings!

And that is the plan.

Editor Joshua Carney will continue to do the real news reporting and I’ll provide some human interest coverage ie; today’s story about a couple of businesses that have been able to adapt and pivot in this challenging time in history.

I’m glad to be back writing for a bit and I hope to provide some coverage that will make people proud of our community. To quote John Krasinski (Jim Halpert from The Office) from his just-during-the-quarantine YouTube show Some Good News, “no matter how bad it gets there is always some good in the world.”