Why do I love to write? Because of you

I Love to Write Day is celebrated Nov. 15 every year.

As a writer, I should have probably known that prior to haphazardly finding it by happy accident, but I didn’t, unless like so many other facts, dates, names and more, it has accidentally oozed out of the corners of my seemingly ever-shrinking mind.

But the truth is, after nearly three decades of doing what I do for a living, I still love what I do.

After my wife Ann retired almost two years ago after 37 hugely successful and meaningful years of teaching first and second grade at Millersburg Elementary, where she impacted young minds in many wonderful ways, people started asking me about when I might opt to retire.

I always tell them the same thing: My wife won’t let me because she doesn’t want me hanging around the house with her!

Alright, not true, but it makes for fun conversation.

The truth is I haven’t pondered retirement yet and probably won’t any time in the immediate future — God willing — because what I do isn’t physically taxing, it keeps my mind sharp and I truly enjoy the experience of being creative in a way that invites others to share in the lives of the people of the area.

To be honest, writing was not in the cards for this guy for many years, although my high school humanities teacher Connie Evans said she always knew someday I’d be a writer.

That’s a bold prediction for a guy who paid other people to write papers for him in college and never once took a writing or journalism class … and yes, I hear some of you stating, “Maybe you should have.”

Yet here I am, nearly 30 years of journalism later, and she was correct.

I’ve always felt my mother Fran and sister Lauren were much more accomplished writers than I. Than me … no, wait … see, this stuff is hard!

But I gest. I know it is “more capable than thy.”

Anyway, I have found myself thinking about why I enjoy this profession.

I am certainly not a prolific writer. I’m a guy more attuned to churning out poppycock, drivel, malarkey, call it what you will.

I’m certainly not one to use huge words like “diaphanous,” “pernicious” or “connoisseur,” although one might say I just used all three, so maybe I’m a liar ... a prevaricator, dissimulator or fabricator if you would please and thank you.

Well, now I’m just showing off my ability to pull big words off Thesaurus.com, which never impresses anyone.

While I may never know what drew me to journalism, I do know this one thing: The most enticing part of this job is the story material from which I get to write.

After the topic of writing came up with several people in the community recently, I went back through my history of stories I have saved from the past decades and realized very succinctly that it may not be me that keeps me writing, but the people I am writing about.

I have had many people thank me for writing stories about them, their families, their businesses, organizations, events and lives, and there is one singular commonality.

They are great, compassionate, caring and giving people doing important and valuable work, achieving great results through hard work and creativity, making an impact on life here in this corner of our world — one day, one person and one good thought or deed at a time.

I firmly believe I have one of the most enjoyable jobs one can have — that being the act of sharing with others these good deeds and accomplishments people achieve.

All these people whose names, businesses and organizations I put into print are the ones doing all the difficult lifting. They are the ones in the trenches, making good things happen, impacting people in positive ways, improving the lives of others through their actions and deeds.

My job is only to share their fine accomplishments with our communities, and I have always felt that is the easy part. What is important to me is to share the vast wealth of goodness, kindness, love, mercy and joy that embraces our community.

That is what gets me jazzed up and eager to put my thoughts together to fashion a story.

Maybe this job is my way of being a small part of sharing our lives together.

That’s why I love writing.

To me, it’s one of the most magical ways of sharing with the world the wonderful things others are doing for those around them, who make I Love to Write Day a truth in my life.

And even if I never write another word, I will feel blessed knowing many, many people in our communities will continue to do incredible, wonderful things, with or without the words I put in print.

Thank you to each one of you out there who makes this experience memorable and positive for me.