B
ittersweet. That’s what I’m feeling as I hover near retirement. January 15 is when I cross the finish line and fumble into the next chapter of my life, armed with a pile of books, and a whack of gratitude in my heart.
Sweet to be embarking on a new voyage; bittersweet to be saying goodbye.
Some of you have been reading my book review column since I started writing it in 1998 for the Richmond Review. Fast forward to July 2015, when the Review closed and the Richmond News offered me a chance to write for its audience. Naturally, I jumped at it.
Bad though I am at math (worse, in fact, than at cooking), I estimate that I’ve written approximately 850 book reviews in the past 17-plus years. No wonder I had to have cataract surgery last year.
These book reviews have been a source of incredible satisfaction for me, especially when readers approach me at work or random places and tell me they read my column.
Imagine how flattered I am! So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you! Without an audience, my writings would be sequestered away in some dark room, pining away for readers, a bunch of aimless words without a mission.
Along with book reviews, I’ve been blessed to share my joys, grief and challenges with you. How many people get the opportunity to publicly share what moves them? True, not everyone wants to, but if you’re wired that way, having a captive audience is like winning the lottery.
You’ve seen me through 12 years of memorializing my dear father Sidney; three years of courtship and seven years of marriage to my adoring husband, Harvey; a traumatic recovery from the plane crash on Russ Baker Way that missed my car by mere feet, celebrating my niece and nephew’s milestones, and more. Not all were book reviews. But still.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Bhreandain Clugston, the former editor of the Richmond Review, for indulging my public displays of emotion, among other things. And thank you to editor Eve Edmonds as well, who has given me a voice through the Richmond News. And of course, the library, for giving me this assignment. You are big-hearted people.
What have I learned from all this? That people want to read about people. Human interest stories are not mere platitude. I’ve also learned that everything is about relationships.
The world’s very existence depends on them. And I’ve had the honour to write about them in their various configurations, every week.
If I have one piece of advice to impart, it’s this: don’t miss an opportunity to tell people you appreciate them. And always say thank you.
Shelley Civkin is the communications officer with the Richmond Public Library
