THE USA TODAY

It was many years ago, but five days a week I used to sit down and read this paper religiously.  Week after week, month after month, and year after year, I absolutely loved reading THE USA TODAY.  When I became a driver delivering  the paper in the early 1990's, I was more excited about getting to see the paper first and get a free copy, than I was in making money delivering it.

THE USA TODAY was known for it's color, it's shorter more concise articles and a paper that was easier to read than other papers.  It was fun to read.  I ripped out many articles and front pages over the years and I still have plenty of them.(okay, too many of them)  The front page the morning of Princess Diana's funeral showed a beautiful color picture of her with the words, "Farewell Diana." It is probably the best front page they ever put out.

I worked as an employee of THE USA TODAY for about eight years in a number of positions including Circulation Manager.  After leaving the company in 2001, I got used to reading the paper only occasionally.  One day, they changed the look of the paper and immediately I thought it was awful.  There was less color and the type was smaller and it looked like a lot of other papers.  It was disappointing to see.

Over the years I've picked up a copy and despite the "normal" look, I still found some interesting articles to read, until the other day.  I picked up a copy in a hotel and it was paper thin.  I "read" through the paper in about five minutes and didn't find anything interesting which was disappointing.

Change is difficult for everyone.  Things you've always done or seen are no longer there and you have to adjust.  It doesn't mean it's good or bad, just different.  It's exciting for me to hear that a big snowstorm is coming, but it's really odd to know that I won't see it and I won't be able to shovel anything.  Shoveling snow was good exercise and it reminds me of all those storms in the past that I watched come down and helped clear away.

My shovel is here, so maybe when I come home after work today I'll take it out and hold it and remember.  Maybe not, but I'll be thinking about how lucky you are as you watch the snowflakes fall all day. I'm heading north in nine days, I think I'll check out the weather report. Maybe I can see a few flurries come down? And if snow is really coming for Easter Weekend, so will my shovel.