Those of you old enough to remember the original Nintendo system can appreciate what it took to get those units to work after a certain period of time. After the first few months, the console and each individual game seemed to have a certain way about them to make them play. It seemed like a lot of work just to play a game. But when you’re a pre-teen boy, finding that special way to get your favorite game to play was just about the best thrill you can receive.

But for those who find no redeeming value in playing games, I’d have to say it did teach me one thing: there’s a solution to every problem. No matter how long it takes, if you massage the problem and keep trying, a beautiful reward awaits you.

That’s why it’s always like video game time for me when Suffolk Living Magazine is upon us here at Suffolk Publications. Each edition seems to be like another beautiful game to play … if you can get it to work. You have to get people and appointments lined up just right. There has to be long hours of writing and editing. Even the sun in the sky has to be just right for things to work.

Though not all of us are gamers or had an original Nintendo when were kids, we here at the Suffolk Publications are always persistent. Like the video games themselves, there are pitfalls, obstacles and, hopefully, triumphs on the way to getting a piece of the puzzle in place for the magazine. Actually, it truly seems like each new edition of the magazine is like advancing to the next level of a video game. There are more perils and require more skills of the staff to produce each one.

Luckily, in this particular game of making Suffolk Living Magazine, I’m accompanied by much better characters than I ever was when I was playing Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, or Super Mario Bros. They all seem to have more than three lives and, with them, the screen never flashes “Game Over.”

This latest edition of Suffolk Living, which will hit the stands later this month, will be an affectionate look at Suffolk and something of a “Level Up” coin for all of us here at Suffolk Publications. And maybe I’m crazy or spent too much time blowing into Nintendo cartridges to get them to work, but I believe we’ve found just the right combination to make this particular publication really work for everyone this time.

Game on, Suffolk.