Gotta keep my head in the game

Boyohboyohboy, I have something to say.

I’ve waited all week to say it. Each day it builds, this something, until I’m ready to just burst.

So, time to say it. And this is what I want to say:

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I can’t say what I want to say.

Let me explain.

You may have noticed this is a one-person gig. Only one name on the Just Wright Citrus masthead. Sponsoring advertisers receive an invoice from only one person. When someone emails the business, the same person responds.

Me. I’m the business.

And what is this business? Well, generally I’m in the opinion field. While I write an occasional news story, these blogs are basically my opinion that I toss out daily for conversation purposes. Thousands of folks in Citrus County have seen enough value in this to make it a part of their daily lives, a fact that both humbles and amazes me.

(Also makes me think some of you are off your rocker but that’s discussion for another day.)

Several months ago, a county commissioner chided me about something I wrote. I thought she was taking it too literally.

“Your words matter!” she said, not in a pleasant way either.

Lately I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t regret coming back four days after major surgery, but I’d be less than honest if I said it’s not affecting me. Because it is.

The recovery details are not important other than, well, it’s a hassle. While I’m grateful it all went well, I’m ready to return to my life but the healing process has other plans.

For one, I can’t drive yet. Don’t tell the doctor, but I snuck out for a few minutes Thursday to get a birthday card at Publix for my grandson. Nothing bad happened that I know of.

As for the medical stuff, it gets better every day. It’s also annoying as heck. I’ve got this scruffy beard thing going because I can’t shave and while we’re eager to see if that’s worth keeping, right now it’s just scruff. My outer ear is numb from the surgery but somehow I can FEEL it, like, constantly. 

And other stuff not necessary to prattle on about.

Here’s my point. I’m a little cranky. And when I’m cranky, it’s best to pull back on some of the things I really want to say.

Grateful that I’m starting to finally learn this. You see, I could get away with being a cranky newspaper reporter. News stories go through filters of review before they’re published. All the editors I worked for had no issue watering down stories if they sensed any attitude.

Everything is much different now. A little attitude isn’t a bad thing. Too much, though, and any sense of logic and fairness go out the window.

This was a huge week for news on the local political front. The County Commission meeting, which I had to watch online (another aggravation), produced several interesting conversations and we’re going to break down many of them.

But I can easily see how making a point about, say, the immigration resolution, can go in entirely different directions. It’s an issue that has caught on in the community. People are taking sides, staking out positions. While in real life a resolution is much ado about nothing, politics isn’t always about real life, and this will play out on its own.

I have much to say about this resolution, its origins and how it’s potentially disastrous for Commissioner Diana Finegan who probably wishes she would have thought this one through a little bit.

That’s an important topic. The immigration issue aside, there are local politics at play and I plan to break all that down. I need my head in the game to do that. 

I wanted to bounce back fast from this surgery and, boy, I’m doing my best. There is so much in this community to discuss, and I know Just Wright Citrus readers are eager to pitch in their views. We’re going to get there real soon.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Have an awesome weekend, friends.

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