Goodbye to 2022
“We hope you had the time of your life”

 

[January 02, 2023] 

At 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, December 31st, the world said good by to 2022. One minute later at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2023, we greeted a new year.

The simple phrase ‘new year’ congers up thoughts of fresh beginnings, new starts, new adventures, and dreams of bettering ourselves and the world around us.

We make resolutions to eat healthier and exercise more. We set goals to make more money, maybe change jobs, and perhaps invest in our first home or start planning a marriage or a family.

We think about the new year with great optimism, and sometimes we say to ourselves that the new year will have to be better because the old one couldn’t have gotten much worse.

Indeed, we saw inflation rates skyrocket and the cost-of-living meant that on December 31st, we paid $5 for a dozen eggs at Walmart. For those that are not mathematicians we’ll do the figuring for you. Compared to eggs at or below $1 a dozen at the first of the year, that is a 500 percent increase, which would be okay if our wages increased by 500 percent, but they didn’t.

We said goodbye to Lincoln College and that broke the hearts of many of us. The closure created a shift in employment for many people and a change in education for hundreds of students.

So, yes, there were some tough times in 2022. But there were good times too. And we, being ever the optimists, choose to dwell on those good times rather than the bad.

We saw new businesses come to Logan County. LDN had the privilege of helping with more than a dozen ribbon cutting ceremonies in the county this year. Some were brand new businesses such as Top of the 19th, the new Tremont Bank in Lincoln, and new title companies. We also helped several businesses celebrate anniversaries, and changes in ownership including the Lodge Off Route 66 and, Lincoln Daily News.

We celebrated great achievements such as the re-opening of the Lincoln IGA, expansion of the Route 66 welcome garden, the first day of the Balloons Over 66 weekend, and the 51st annual Railsplitter Festival in Lincoln.

The community turned out for the annual Logan County Fair and many of our youth impressed us with their abilities in categories such as arts, foods, livestock and small animals, crops, and much, much more.

At the fair, we said goodbye to one set of Logan County royalty and welcomed three new young ladies who have served us well as the Queen, Junior Miss, and the Little Miss.

The community celebrated not one but two new homeowners that were recipients of CIVC Tiny Homes for veterans. There were two other families who learned they would receive homes through the Habitat for Humanity of Logan County, and one family moved into its Habitat home in 2022.

We enjoyed the Third Friday Downtown Lincoln events, the Friday events in Mount Pulaski and several other community celebrations throughout the year.

In the fall we also enjoyed the LCHS homecoming parade and celebrated a year of improved playing for the Railsplitter Football team.

We were particularly humbled and gratified to see the community turn out for the annual Pink Pumpkin Auction and once again broke a personal record for money raised at that special event to benefit the American Cancer Society.
 

As we approached November we looked forward to the tree lighting ceremony on the Logan County Courthouse lawn. When the Friday after Thanksgiving arrived, we were not disappointed as we strolled through dozens of beautifully decorated trees in our own Winter Wonderland. We celebrated Small Business Saturday and enjoyed hearing that the merchants had a very good day.

The community turned out for the annual Christmas Parade on the first Thursday night in December, and children enjoyed visiting with Santa at the Logan County Tourism Bureau Visitors Center.

And as the year came to an end, we had the pleasure of a white Christmas though perhaps it was a little colder than some of us would have liked.

So, as we look back on 2022 and say goodbye, yes there were some tough times, but there were also some very good times.

As we close the old year and open a new one we look forward with optimism, but also look backward with a smile and say to you, “We hope you had the time of your life.”

And we, the staff and stringers at Lincoln Daily News wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year.

[Nila Smith]