A belated thank you

Published 7:21 pm Saturday, May 11, 2013

Mother’s Day might not be the best time for me to make a public admission that will mortally embarrass my mom, but here goes: I’m terrible about writing thank you notes. The worst.

I always have good intentions, but you know what they say about good intentions — they don’t get you anywhere you’d want to be. So I’ve got two thank you cards on my desk, waiting to be inscribed and sent in recognition of birthday and Christmas gifts (from 2011, probably), there’s another in my briefcase that I can’t remember the occasion for which I wished to show appreciation, and there’s a drawer at home with a whole collection of thank you notes and cards just waiting for the day I’d actually write a brief note in them, lick a stamp and drop them into a mailbox.

I’m sorry, Mom. Now, everybody in Suffolk knows how poorly your son turned out. To them I’ll say this: It’s all on me. My mother should not be blamed if I’ve become a lout.

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Much as I’d like to turn this column into a blanket thank you to all those who’ve done things for me or given me gifts that deserved a written note of appreciation, many of those folks do not read the Suffolk News-Herald, so thanking them here would be pointless.

Two people who do read the paper, though — and to whom I owe a great debt of gratitude — are Kermit Hobbs and Sue Woodward, two of Suffolk’s premiere amateur historians and two of its most generous people, at least in terms of helping to provide interesting and enlightening historical content for this newspaper and for Suffolk Living magazine.

Woodward is always quick to help us out with historical photos and ideas for features. She has a great love for old Suffolk, and her enthusiasm for the subject is contagious. We have undertaken several interesting features during my time here solely because of her recommendation.

Hobbs is similarly someone whose suggestions I try to take to heart. And when he called with the idea of providing a series of articles on the 150th anniversary of the Siege of Suffolk, I jumped at the opportunity. The resulting 16-part series turned into one of the most interesting things we’ve done in my time at the Suffolk News-Herald, and I’m proud that he thought enough of our paper to share them with us.

To both of these fine people, I offer my sincerest thanks for all their help.

And to the many readers who have wondered whether we would compile the siege series into one publication, there’s good news: Kermit Hobbs, Sue Woodward and I are working on the details of just such a publication now. We should have the details later this week, but I think it’s safe to say that everyone who enjoyed parts of the series will be happy to have a chance to read the ones they missed — and those who read all the siege articles in print or online will be pleased with the content we expect to add in this new publication.

Look for more details later this week.

And once again, Mom, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you. Happy Mother’s Day, nonetheless.