The Ends...

I’ve got the Post-Election Blues. No robo-calls, no endless radio and TV commercials, no glossy full color mailers and nobody else’s dirty laundry to pick through. I’m stuck with me again.

I just voted and already I’m feeling the emptiness in my life now that I don’t have Mitt and Barack, Sherrod and Josh, and Betty and Jim battling it out like a heavyweight fight on the television in our home every night. It’s been like watching a bad divorce, in all its detail, played out in front of us, with nothing held back by either party. So this is the end of nastiness on the public airwaves for four more years, though I heard someone on the radio just today speculate on who might be the candidates in 2016. Groan!

Another end of sorts would be me. If it weren’t for modern medicine and the doctors who practice it, I would’ve been dead at the age of 38 when my appendix burst. In earlier times I would’ve gone out with a maximum high fever when sepsis set in and wouldn’t be writing this now. It’s amazing how casually many of us take our health. There were a couple more times in my life when, had this happened to me 100 years earlier, I would be dead. I’ll bet you can think of a time in your life when being born at the right time in history has saved your life. And we can owe much of this life-saving to doctors whom we honor in this issue of akronlife. Is your doctor listed as one of the best in the area?

And with this month’s retirement of Akron Deputy Mayor Dave Lieberth, another era comes to an end. Dave and I had our disagreements, but he served the mayor and the city of Akron with a tireless work ethic the likes of which we won’t see again. He came to the job over 10 years ago, just as we were starting Akron Life & Leisure magazine. He served through three elections, a mayoral recall and the creation of Lock 3, which was nothing but a hole in the ground that he turned into a high-profile entertainment venue mostly by himself. Dave has always been one of Akron’s preeminent historians, a passion which he’s vowed to pursue in his retirement. Maybe he’ll even write something for akronlife.

Jim Barnett is also stepping down as the race director for the Akron Marathon. When Jim came to me to ask for this magazine’s assistance in getting the first marathon off the ground, he admitted that he’d never run a marathon, let alone directed one. He rectified that by running a full marathon and going to a workshop on how to run one. Well, now he can offer his own workshop on how to run a successful event, which he’s been doing for the last 10 years. Jim has agreed to stay on as trustee for the event and to help race founders Steve and Jeannine Marks in future races. Whomever the Markses get as the next race director, that person will have some big shoes to fill, running or otherwise.

And finally, 2012 has come to an end. Can’t say I’ll miss it, but you never know what the future brings. I hope it brings many happy returns to you for 2013.