Wapad - I bid you farewell

Dearest Wapad

From the moment that I put my CV into the blue folder on your door, it has been adventure and growth and glorious experience upon glorious experience. You have given me opportunities that I could never have dreamt of in my wildest dreams and for that I will forever be thankful.

You have not only taught me that my comfort zone is actually an awful place to be but also that every person is worth having a conversation with and that the chance that they will surprise you is great.
The excitement that came along with each "The newspapers are here!" message on a Thursday (supposedly but rarely) and the chaotic meetings filled with a constant chattering and exchange of enthusiastic ideas on a Monday evening are the moments that I cherish and will miss most!

Thank you for the people that you forced me to allow into my life. They have formed me, changed me, renewed me but more than anything else accepted me (contradictory, I know but that's what makes them beautiful). The mentors, friends, leaders and followers made space for everyone and anyone brave enough to cross the Wapad threshold and that is a rare and precious commodity.

Jelet

I know that there will never again be a journalist as enthusiastic about Jeremy Loops, Francois van Coke and Short Straw as I am but grant those who pick up the pen that I now lay down the same creative freedom to explore their hearts' desires and find themselves within the white spaces between each word and letter.

I am grateful for friendships formed on your broken chairs and painfully slow computers. Jelet (Jené and Alet) will forever live on, thank you for being the starting line of our companionship. Alet, I am extremely proud of you and it has been an honor to be able to form half of the best combination Wapad has ever seen (claim it!). I am excited to see you grow together and within this newspaper, you have been chosen to take it to new heights. Thank you will never be enough but today that is all I have. So - thank you.

Wapad, I bid you are farewell. May you be blessed with a plethora of riveting stories of an excellent standard, an abundance of eager worker-bees and an excess of advertisements. I thank you for a wonderful season, I will carry it in my heart with great fondness.

Yours sincerely,
-J