Two months of 2011 have already passed, and within that short amount of time, I have already faced several new challenges.

First, I had to say to goodbye to Don Olea, our paginator extraordinaire on Sunday nights and Monday and Tuesdays. Don laid out the Monday editions of The Lebanon Democrat on Sunday nights, and then did the Mt. Juliet News Extra on Mondays and the Mt. Juliet News on Tuesdays. In addition, he was a great back-up whenever Andy Reed, our sports editor, or Marie Corhern, our night editor, was off.

Don, thank you for your service, and I will personally miss having you around. You took a tremendous load off me, and for that I am eternally grateful. Best wishes on your new endeavors and keep in touch.

Next, I had to say goodbye to a great employee, Hilary Trenda, as she prepared to move to Charlotte, N.C., where her husband Tyson had already moved over the New Year’s weekend to start a new job. At a small paper like The Lebanon Democrat, staff writers tend to come and go, but there are some who take a piece of your heart with them when they leave. Hilary was one of those, and I am so grateful we had for almost three years. She took ownership of her beats and made them her own, but mostly, she brought a continual breeze of fresh air to the newsroom.

Hil, you are so missed, but we look forward to your continued posts at your blog, “Green Means Go.” Good luck and happy times in your new home and city. Give Cody a hug from me, and tell Tyson, I forgive him for taking you away.

With the leaving of some, comes the welcoming of others. Sabrina Garrett Elmasu, who many of you know as our weekend reporter, is now paginating the Mt. Juliet News and doing an awesome job. I adore this ambition young lady who is always willing to do whatever is asked of her – from filling in for someone on maternity leave in circulation to learning pagination skills. I wish every employer the gift of an employee like Sabrina.

In addition, Mary Hinds joined us as our new staff writer, taking over Hilary’s beats as our cops and courts and education reporter. Mary comes with an impressive background (as a former editor of a weekly), and has hit the ground running – literally. Mary, with her love of animals, plants and reading, has quickly become a wonderful addition to our staff, and we can’t wait for her to move in the next week to Lebanon from her sister’s in Mt. Juliet so she can play in the dirt and start planting in her yard.

With the leaving of Don, my schedule has changed, and I’m still adjusting. I now work Sunday nights and Monday-Thursday in the office. Being “off” on Fridays doesn’t mean I’m out of the loop, as so far each Friday has either seen me in the office or spending at least three hours each morning logged in from home working.

This past week, I celebrated my 51^st birthday. I’m happy to share my age, but it’s still hard to absorb that I’m that old. I don’t feel it – at least mentally. Physically, I have my good days and my bad days, but overall, I don’t feel much different than I did when I was 31.

The only real reminder that I’m this old is the harsh realization that my parents are aging. This really came home last weekend when Jim and I went to Chickamauga to visit my parents and have an early birthday celebration.

My Daddy is suffering from congestive heart failure, and last weekend, he was having what unfortunately will come all more frequently, bad days. It physically hurt me to watch him struggle to breath and to see him have to take nitroglycerin tablets for the angina pain whenever he walked from the bedroom to the kitchen.

It also pained me to watch my Mother, who has been with him for almost 60 years, three as his high school sweetheart, and come Sept. 11 this year, 57 as his wife, with the concern etched on her face.

Considering that Daddy had a massive heart attack at the age of 39, one that the doctor said he would not have survived had he not already been at the hospital and sedated, we consider ourselves blessed to have had him with us the last 37 years.

Yes, 2011 has already proven it is going to be a year of challenges. But you know what? With God by my side, I don’t think there’s much that life here on earth can throw at me that we can’t face together.

Tags: Amelia Morrison Hipps, challenges, Don Olea, Hilary Trenda, Lebanon, Lebanon Democrat, Lebanon Tennessee, Marie Corhern, parents, Sabrina Garrett Elmasu, Tennessee

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 12th, 2011 at 10:10 am and is filed under Life, Life with My Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.