It doesn’t matter how many time you do it, saying goodbye never gets any easier. I’ve moved every few years my entire time, but even with all that experience of saying goodbye and leaving a town behind, it is just as hard each and every time.  It doesn’t matter if I’ve lived somewhere for four years (the typical maximum for me) or just over a year as I have in Bainbridge.

This current goodbye has become necessary because Tuesday, March 14, will be my last day at The Post-Searchlight. I am moving to Vicksburg, MS after accepting a reporter position at The Vicksburg Post, which is owned by the same company as The Post-Searchlight.

I came to Bainbridge in December 2015 for my first job in journalism and knowing no one. Being the new person in town is almost as hard as saying goodbye at the end, but you have accepted me, and you have let me tell your stories.

Some of those stories have been easy and fun to tell such as that of the star running back whose destiny seemed assured from the time he was six years old or a morning spent with a kindergarten class. Others have tugged at the heartstrings or been polarizing because of their content. My favorite stories of all though were those when I got to meet the people that call Bainbridge home and hear your life stories.

I am going to miss the evenings spent playing pick-up basketball at Bill Reynolds and the spur of the moment trips to grab a D-bone from Carter’s. I’ll miss watching Dameon put the team on his back and carry the Bearcats to a win.

I’ll miss the people I met both through work and outside. In my time here, I’ve built friendships and met people who will forever have an impact on my life. 

It has been a wild and interesting ride during my time in Bainbridge. This town has been my home for this past year and will also be a piece of me.

I have enjoyed learning the history of this town and how important it is to the people that live here. I have learned a lot about myself and what it means to be a journalist.

I am ready for my next adventure and excited to see what the future holds, but the difficulty of saying goodbye persists nonetheless. So I am just going to skip that part.

I will probably be running around frantically getting last minute things done in my last few days here, but I plan to take a few minutes to maybe grab a D-bone or shoot some hoops, and of course take in Rivertown Days.