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Small surprises mean so much
By adriana_acosta in To venus and back
August 23, 2011

On Sunday I went to church, I know, I was in shock myself. As a joke, I sent my mom a text telling her hell had frozen over – I was at church!

But all joking aside, as I sat there waiting for services to begin and admiring the inside of the church, I saw a little girl sit next to me and smile. In her hand, she held a newspaper clipping I had printed in the Matagorda Advocate not too long ago. The photo was of her, standing next to a photo of her grandma. She is seen holding hair she donated to Locks of Love in memory of her grandma who passed away from cancer.

So she showed me the newspaper clipping and thanked me for printing the photo.

My heart melted.

I wanted to cry.

Here was a little girl who didn’t care about the newspaper itself, just that we had printed something that was dear to her heart – a photo of her and her grandma.

And that is what working for a community newspaper is all about. A weekly is not just about writing news and posting bulletin board events. Sure writing about the news is important, but it’s also about printing contributed photos from readers. It’s about sharing news that is important to you. It’s about printing what the community is all about.

And I didn’t understand that at first when I came in to the newspaper business. I had my heart set in hard news, wanting to cover county, city and crime.

It takes time to evolve and understand what to offer to readers.

For a few weeks, I had been feeling a bit overwhelmed with work. Having to write, paginate and cover as much for the newspaper can sometimes be hard work. No matter how much a person loves their job, it can end up work.

Her actions are one of the reasons I appreciate this job so much. I love to write, what other position will pay you to do what you love the most?

And sometimes it’s nice when people come up to you and tell you how much they appreciate what you have done in the paper.

So the next time I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with work, I will remember that little girl thanking me for printing that photo.

Have a story to share? Email me: aacosta@vicad.com