Usually this time of year I use one of my columns as an opportunity to say “thanks!” I’m sure many of you, like us, are wondering what we have to be thankful for this year. After all, at least in our case, the COVID restrictions have done about everything possible to put our little businesses out of business, and sadly they have succeeded on a number of our clients and friends. God knows the restrictions have given us many reasons to lose sleep with worry about what new challenges tomorrow’s speech might bring.
I say all that to say I’m the worrier on the team. Twila, my business partner, wife and best friend for over 30 years, never worries. It just is not in her make up and no doubt she will outlive me by many years, though she swears when God calls me home He better send two tickets! I keep telling her to take the life insurance money and find a good-looking young guy to take care of her in her old age the way she has cared for me, but she says there will be no need for she is NOT going to get old and she plans to go with me anyway. No stress but very hardheaded. That’s my partner.
Anyway, I say all that to start off with a bit of humor before I tackle the much harder challenge of finding some things to be thankful for as we end an extremely challenging year. First we are thankful for you, our readers, and also our amazing group of loyal sponsors. The fact that you are reading our magazine is a blessing and we thank you for it and hope you will not only do business with the organizations and small businesses who reach out to you in the pages of SOKY, but that you also might mention to them where you saw their messages. Without you there is no reason for us to be here and without our sponsors we could not produce this product. We are so thankful to the wonderful sponsors who have battled this war with COVID and the restrictions and, at least so far, been able to remain in business, and we encourage you to support them every chance you get.
As always, I’m incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful and talented team to help create SOKY Happenings every month. Abby and Meredith are on the front lines communicating with sponsors and helping them get the most out of their advertising dollars. Krystal is just a super talent when it comes to design and makes the pages beautiful and easy to read.
One group who gets very little recognition but deserves a ton is the writers, artists and designers whose work appears in SOKY. The writers and artists usually at least get their names mentioned. The designers who work with many SOKY sponsors and create some of the amazing ads you see get no recognition but are incredible talents and I encourage our sponsors to please tell them “thank you” for how good they make you look with each of their efforts.
Finally, there are “the girls.” Best friends of Twila and mine for years, they are such a blessing to us. Alice writes the “Remembering” article each month and Kay is her trusty “right-hand gal” who helps research and proof her work. But, more than that, they are friends who always support and encourage us… especially during these tough times… and we love and appreciate them for it.
Oh, wait, if I want to live I probably should remember to thank the heart of SOKY… Twila. She is the one person who does it all… sells, writes, photographs, designs, proofs and even delivers the magazines to locations where you pick them up. A good friend of ours from Utah put it best when she observed, “You are one lucky guy. You have a beautiful wife who is so talented you have made a good living sitting and watching her do all the work!” As they say, “no truer words were ever spoken.”
So, I guess that’s it. I wish I could say that as 2020 leaves us so will the challenges we have faced this year, but I doubt that’s the case. I will say I’m thankful that we live in a country that has the resources and will to face such challenges and still survive. And, no matter what you believe, I’m convinced that is a complete and total blessing from a loving God and I hope and pray that He will continue to bless our country and our citizens and, most of all, I pray that He will bless you through the holidays and into a wonderful New Year!
