At the suggestion of a friend, I began writing a weekly column for The Herald-Mail. 

The friend said a family column would resonate with readers. Why not? I thought. I’ll write a few, and we’ll see how it goes. 

Now, 23 years later, I’ve touched on a wide range of topics. Readers have said the columns made them laugh, made them cry, made them angry, made them sad. Some said they couldn’t believe I wrote on … completing the sentence with the latest topic.  

Whatever opinion was shared, I expressed gratitude to the person giving it. At least they are reading, as my writing friends would say.  

We know our work would have no value were it not for you. It is good to be grateful, to reflect on the past and to look forward to new beginnings. 

I am starting a new job, so this will be my last column for now. I’ll be in a school setting that combines my interests in journalism and education. 

I will miss writing this column, but mainly I will miss you, the readers.  

Being a parent is challenging. Writing about parenting is even more so. There were times when I struggled in both areas. 

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Thankfully, many of you shared your experiences. We aren’t in this alone. When people take time to reach out and share their experiences, it fosters a sense of community. That’s another thing I will miss: the connections we made. 

Most of my columns had a day-in-the-life flavor. Take for instance one of the first: 

My daughter was crawling, my son was a preschooler, and they were in the kitchen while I was making a layer cake. He was on a stool, helping with the cake, and she was on the floor playing with toys. 

Frosting a cake can be tricky, and I was trying not to get crumbs in the icing. When I finished, I looked over to where my daughter was playing, but she wasn’t there.  

“Where is your sister?” I asked my son. He shrugged his shoulders. I scanned the kitchen floor, looked for her in the living room, dining room, playroom but couldn’t find her.

When I called her name, I heard a little squeak coming from above. I looked up and there she was, teetering at the top of the stairs. I asked my son if he carried her to the top. He shook his head and reminded me that he had been beside me the whole time. 

I retrieved her and took her to the bottom of the stairs where she promptly started climbing them again. Before that day, she hadn’t climbed one stair. That experience prompted us to add a gate. 

It’s amazing how quickly children catch on to new skills, and how quickly they grow up. 

I feel like our families have grown up together. 

Thank you for reading my column. I will miss this, and I will miss each of you. 

Lisa Tedrick Prejean has written a weekly column for The Herald-Mail for 23 years. She is grateful for wonderful memories of working at The Herald-Mail.