Change is hard.
I'm going through a lot of changes.
I've lived in Monroe since last October. I like Green County. I grew up in Janesville. This is closer to home than I ever thought I would return.
I've made a lot of new friends - especially those at Monroe Clinic. I'm really blessed to know a number of the staff in the emergency room. Very professional, because they were working on me.
Two weeks ago Monroe Clinic surgeon Dr. Nicholas Maxwell got to see more of the insides of me than I ever have. He removed my gallbladder. Perfect job.
One thing my body has told me, however, is that I'm missing an organ. That's a pretty big change, and it's changed my life.
I've had to completely change my diet. I was one person in July. I'm a different person in August. Still flawed, but things are much different.
I feel blessed. Walking, breathing and loved. This is a beautiful place. My wife was my rock.
I don't know what the future brings, but I'm currently shrinking around the waist. I may continue to shrink. My clothes are baggy. Need new ones. Could end up healthier. More change.
There are changes here at the newspaper.
We're bringing out a new flag that we've been working on for four months. We hope you see it soon. As a newspaper we've made a significant investment in our home. There are more new, shiny things in the Times office than I remember on Christmas mornings.
This means our team has been learning new things. New software. New publishing platforms.
I'm the furthest behind in the change, which should be great satisfaction to our diligent, talented professionals. The team truly is making the effort to help our newspaper better reflect the community and work with our partner businesses.
We're seeing some change in the newsroom. This is something typical for a newspaper of our size. Those we have on staff are trained well and are making the most of their opportunities to practice their profession. It's what the Times staff has traditionally excelled at in over a century of serving this community. We keep moving forward.
More technology, more great stories, more community reflection.
My biggest change is almost over.
I'm flying this week for the first time to watch my son graduate from U.S. Army Basic Training. He's been gone the better part of three months, and he's 17. He has yet to start his senior year at Monroe High School.
Long before we became Monroe residents, my son told me I had to be home early one evening. Army recruiters showed up at 6 p.m. He arranged everything. He studied, investigated and took an oath. I became a driver to and from meetings with the recruiters over several months. In June, I took him to La Crosse so he could fly out to basic.
On Thursday I hope to be at his graduation.
It will be a joyous and bittersweet day. More change. Children growing up.
Having my son gone most of the summer was a huge change that I felt deeply. I have always known I'd have to slowly give up the reins. There's a picture on my desk of him walking away from me into the breaking waves on a sunny day at Lake Winnebago. He was 11. I took the picture. I knew he was on his way. The photo is my reminder.
The change I've gone through over the last three months he's been gone have been anxious, trying, worrisome and soul-searching. And seeing my wife and step-son infrequently has been difficult. Many couples do this, we know. And through church in Viroqua, I saw more than one successful marriage that included distance for a period.
While I missed my son in the Army, there were the occasional rays of sunshine. These included photos from his unit on social media atop the Victory Tower ready to rappel at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Many other photos popped up among the hundreds of trainees just in his company. That was reassuring.
My Facebook account regularly sent me "memory" photos of my son and myself. Us in Boy Scouts, us in Sunday School, us in youth and high school football.
After one of my worst ideas as a parent fizzled when the boy was 12, I was faced with a dilemma. I turned on a dime and whisked him away on a trip to the amusement park. We headed for Six Flags Great America, a place I had only been twice previously in my life. I was 10 and 12 at the time.
Instead of staying home and brooding at my parental over-expectation - totally my fault - I took Derek to a water park and then Six Flags. It was a top five moment of my life. He was 12 and I was dad and we were together on the Raging Bull roller coaster yelling at the top of our lungs, "Jet Pilot Troopers."
Now the government is paying for an airline to jet him home - by himself - a 17-year-old Soldier.
And he will keep on traveling all his life. I just hope never too far for me.
More change.
- Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
I'm going through a lot of changes.
I've lived in Monroe since last October. I like Green County. I grew up in Janesville. This is closer to home than I ever thought I would return.
I've made a lot of new friends - especially those at Monroe Clinic. I'm really blessed to know a number of the staff in the emergency room. Very professional, because they were working on me.
Two weeks ago Monroe Clinic surgeon Dr. Nicholas Maxwell got to see more of the insides of me than I ever have. He removed my gallbladder. Perfect job.
One thing my body has told me, however, is that I'm missing an organ. That's a pretty big change, and it's changed my life.
I've had to completely change my diet. I was one person in July. I'm a different person in August. Still flawed, but things are much different.
I feel blessed. Walking, breathing and loved. This is a beautiful place. My wife was my rock.
I don't know what the future brings, but I'm currently shrinking around the waist. I may continue to shrink. My clothes are baggy. Need new ones. Could end up healthier. More change.
There are changes here at the newspaper.
We're bringing out a new flag that we've been working on for four months. We hope you see it soon. As a newspaper we've made a significant investment in our home. There are more new, shiny things in the Times office than I remember on Christmas mornings.
This means our team has been learning new things. New software. New publishing platforms.
I'm the furthest behind in the change, which should be great satisfaction to our diligent, talented professionals. The team truly is making the effort to help our newspaper better reflect the community and work with our partner businesses.
We're seeing some change in the newsroom. This is something typical for a newspaper of our size. Those we have on staff are trained well and are making the most of their opportunities to practice their profession. It's what the Times staff has traditionally excelled at in over a century of serving this community. We keep moving forward.
More technology, more great stories, more community reflection.
My biggest change is almost over.
I'm flying this week for the first time to watch my son graduate from U.S. Army Basic Training. He's been gone the better part of three months, and he's 17. He has yet to start his senior year at Monroe High School.
Long before we became Monroe residents, my son told me I had to be home early one evening. Army recruiters showed up at 6 p.m. He arranged everything. He studied, investigated and took an oath. I became a driver to and from meetings with the recruiters over several months. In June, I took him to La Crosse so he could fly out to basic.
On Thursday I hope to be at his graduation.
It will be a joyous and bittersweet day. More change. Children growing up.
Having my son gone most of the summer was a huge change that I felt deeply. I have always known I'd have to slowly give up the reins. There's a picture on my desk of him walking away from me into the breaking waves on a sunny day at Lake Winnebago. He was 11. I took the picture. I knew he was on his way. The photo is my reminder.
The change I've gone through over the last three months he's been gone have been anxious, trying, worrisome and soul-searching. And seeing my wife and step-son infrequently has been difficult. Many couples do this, we know. And through church in Viroqua, I saw more than one successful marriage that included distance for a period.
While I missed my son in the Army, there were the occasional rays of sunshine. These included photos from his unit on social media atop the Victory Tower ready to rappel at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Many other photos popped up among the hundreds of trainees just in his company. That was reassuring.
My Facebook account regularly sent me "memory" photos of my son and myself. Us in Boy Scouts, us in Sunday School, us in youth and high school football.
After one of my worst ideas as a parent fizzled when the boy was 12, I was faced with a dilemma. I turned on a dime and whisked him away on a trip to the amusement park. We headed for Six Flags Great America, a place I had only been twice previously in my life. I was 10 and 12 at the time.
Instead of staying home and brooding at my parental over-expectation - totally my fault - I took Derek to a water park and then Six Flags. It was a top five moment of my life. He was 12 and I was dad and we were together on the Raging Bull roller coaster yelling at the top of our lungs, "Jet Pilot Troopers."
Now the government is paying for an airline to jet him home - by himself - a 17-year-old Soldier.
And he will keep on traveling all his life. I just hope never too far for me.
More change.
- Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
