Lake County was a mystery then, and it largely remains a mystery now. But one thing that is not a mystery is the effect it had on me during the past year.
It all started little more than 14 months ago. I was driving into the county, trying to stay within the lines of wining curves in delirious exhaustion after being on the road more than 12 hours. The night”s darkness kept the county and my future a mystery and I just wanted for it to be two days later, experiencing my first day of work at the Record-Bee.
Today, 14 months later, having seen some of Lake County”s best and some of its worst, having mourned a family”s loss of a child, been to murder scenes and joined on the fun of coaching a boy”s soccer team, it”s hard to think that it”s only been a little more than a year.
I experienced a lot during my time in Lake County, but I don”t feel like I understand it half as well as I thought I would. It feels like I”m leaving just before dawn, and the sun hasn”t yet risen to reveal all that at one point I thought awaited me.
But oddly so, I do not feel unfulfilled with what I”ve done here. To me, Lake County will always feel like the old, friendly traveler you meet while you wait at the airport who tells you a short, uplifting anecdote in a comforting voice. Like an elderly person with flaws and wisdom, hopes and regrets, who tells you the type of anecdote in just the right tone that gives you what you needed even if you didn”t know you needed it.
Lake County will always feel like an unforgettable, dense, concentrated and complicated snapshot of a moment in a developing story that at times feels like is playing in fast motion.
A year can sometimes feel like a snapshot. It can be reduced to feel like nothing more than a blink of an eye. When I came here I was 25, now I”m 26. Sometimes it seems that simple.
It”s, of course, never as simple as that. A year can also feel like a journey.
While here, I have felt passionate about people and issues in this county. I have, at times, also felt completely apathetic and short of hope.
I have been praised for my work and cussed out over the phone and in person.
Between those extremes, there are names, places, organizations and events that will forever be tattooed in my memory, for good reasons and bad. People who I never met and places that I never experienced; people who I briefly spoke to and places that I only heard about; people who I regularly spoke to and places that I visited regularly will always be with me.
I will never forget the morning of Oct. 3 when I drove as close as I could to the crash site of Gabriela Rivas Garcia. The sun was still somewhat low over the trees, and the curvy road that hid behind the shadow of the trees led to tragic crash site. I will never forget what I felt when I spoke to her uncle at the scene and what I have felt as I have followed the details that have come to light after that.
I will always remember interviewing the Dekeyser family in the dim light of their living room, as little Ronnie drifted in and out of sleep and I focused as hard as I could at the questions I was asking to keep the emotions from invading my thoughts.
My experience here was one full of firsts. It was profound at times and exhilarating, exciting, dreadful, sorrowful and joyful at others.
I may have only been here a year, but it was far from the blink of an eye.
Farewell friendly airport waiting room companion. Have a wonderful day.
