An Interesting Change of Pace

I've come to believe that there is a lesson to be learned in every experience whether expected or unexpected. So it has been over the last two weeks ending July 3rd.

I spent the first 20 years of my broadcast journalism career in Cedar Rapids at WMT before moving to Des Moines to be news director at WHO .  Late May brought word of a resignation at the station in Cedar Rapids who was one of the last people I hired before moving on.  The departure came at a time when another news person was on a promotional trip for the station meaning there were not enough news people to cover the bases.

I had seen a couple of the emails asking for help.  I later learned they were sent in my direction because of my problem solving capabilities. I do not say that to be boastful but am relaying the comments of a superior. There was a very straightforward answer to the dilemma.  I would say I would do it, ask for some additional compensation and a place to stay and to iron out all the details and responsibilities that had to be covered at WHO in Des Moines during my absence.  Everything was squared away in a couple of days.

The two weeks in Cedar Rapids were a trip back through an earlier part in life. Yes, most of the faces had changed, there was a new coat of paint on the walls, but it still vividly reminded me of the time from 1980-2001 that I spent at WMT, even to a flashback of walking in the door at 4:00 AM and throwing on the light switch as the first person in the building.  I renewed some old acquaintances, but more importantly the experiences of the past made the transition, albeit a short one, from Des Moines to Cedar Rapids very easy.
You will be surprised, if you just look for it,  how much experiences and memories can play in your life today.  Something that may have happened several years ago can be applied to a current experience.  It can guide you and make whatever it is you are doing now easier and better than it would have been otherwise. There will still be frustrations but I submit fewer of them if you rely on the road already traveled for some guidance.

Even if it is at 4:00 AM.