Well, it’s been quite awhile since the last time I visited my PapPap and he let me write a column for the sports pages. I am enjoying spending quality time with him and my grandma. But I dearly miss my two sisters who arrived since my last visit here.

When you are away from the ones you spend everyday with, you really do begin to miss them. But visiting PapPap and grandma has been a blast and I have really come to know them better.

So far, I have got to go to work with my PapPap when grandma is working days, and I have seen first hand the teamwork that goes into putting a newspaper together.

Everybody gets to work early on Tuesdays, when they send it to Wheeling for printing, and some stay very late. Mainly Mrs. Witschey and Miss Lauren.

But, I have also seen that Miss Diann, the office manager, never seems to stop, either. She answers a lot of phone calls during the day, talks to a lot of customers who come in during the day, and keeps things running smoothly.

Then there is Miss Tammy, who is awfully nice to me. She always has a smile on her face. But I think she might have ants in her pants, because she is always up and down in and out all day long. It’s a wonder she doesn’t get dizzy! She does her job at work and then goes home to be a mother and wife.

Miss Lauren is so sweet. She always compliments people and makes them feel good about themselves. She is full of life. And she is one of the fastest people I ever saw. (She can type and sing at the same time!)

I don’t get to see a whole lot of Miss Lisa. She works in advertising at the Wetzel Chronicle, Tyler Star News, and Green Tab, so she is in and out of the office a lot. When she’s not out seeing a customer, she is on the phone with them.

Then, there is the editor, Mrs. Witschey. My PapPap says her job means if something’s wrong with the newspaper, it’s her fault. The editor is the one person who must see everything, from the first to the last page.

She works very hard to make the newspaper look good and she is a sweetie. I don’t know how she does it all. Doing interviews, writing stories, taking pictures, making them the right size to fit into the newspaper, and still finds time to me a mommy.

Then, there is Mr. Abraham. PapPap calls him Bill. But I was taught to always call my elders Mr., Miss, or Mrs. He and my Pap have worked together on stuff for a long time. Pap says he helps his sports stories and pages be better.

He also puts other news articles, headlines, pictures, and stuff on the pages. Sometimes PapPap helps him, too. Mr. Abraham says my Pap is really good at that. Those two guys have a great time and enjoy their jobs. Sometimes they cause some mischief, too, that makes the other people laugh with them.

Now, I’m not saying this just because he is my Pap, because I have seen how hard he works. He is always talking about sports everywhere he goes. He must have a lot of friends because everybody knows my Pap.

When we go to the store, I know he must talk to 100 people, and its always about either Magnolia, Paden City, Valley, Hundred, or River high schools. He is always going somewhere taking pictures. I know he likes taking pictures because he is always taking pictures of me and my sisters all the time.

My Pap and my Aunt Sheila Estep had worked very hard with the Relay For Life. Pap said that Wetzel County raised more than $96,000 this year and they still have until the end of August to raise even more. Boy, that’s a lot of money in just a small county. Pap must be real proud. He says it takes a lot of hard work from a lot of people who care to raise that money.

Pap told me that they couldn’t use the Magnolia track this year because it was being fixed up. So, they used the 4-H campgrounds and I heard over and over that this year was one of the best Relays ever.

I overheard Pap say that they will start all over again Sept. 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the community college in New Martinsville to begin next year’s event and he hopes more people would come and help in planning for it.

I guess that they had 36 Relay Teams with 509 participants. The Wetzel County Hospital won for the best decorated campsite, and the Magnolia High School team had the most enthusiastic team, while Carol Ann Fans was the top rookie team.

The Relay Committee will need to pick a place to have next year’s event and wanted feedback on where to have it. First choice is to continue to have it at Magnolia High School, but the 4-H campground is available, also. Many people seemed to enjoy it out there, away from distractions.

The Wetzel Chronicle will have a questionnaire on their website to get feedback. So if you would please look for it and fill it out, that is a very big help. The committee will take your suggestions in choosing next year’s home for the Relay For Life event.

I would like to thank all of the Wetzel Chronicle staff for letting me be part of their team, even if it was only for a short time. And for my Pap to let me write about my experience I had while I was there.

Hopefully I didn’t bore you much. And I pray that all of you who read this understand how much those wonderful people at the Wetzel Chronicle do to get you all the area news.