In the spring of 2006, I did one of the bravest things I’ve ever done. Picking up the phone, I dialed the number for Laurie LaMountain, owner, editor, and publisher of Lake Living: Southern Maine’s Leisure Lifestyle Magazine, and told her, um, that I thought, um, she needed an, um, assistant editor.

You see, a few years prior, Laurie had interviewed My Guy about his running career, and in particular about training for marathons (think: 2 Maine in Portland; 2 Marine Corp in D.C.; and 2 Boston, with qualifying time for a third that he never did run due to time conflicts). While I enjoyed the article, I was annoyed because she had spelled my name “Lee” and not “Leigh.” Plus, there were other grammatical errors that I had noticed.

To say I was nervous was an understatement. I wrote (and edited) what I wanted to say, knowing I had to be positive about the magazine at the start and make it personal. I also knew my voice would crack and quiver as I spoke, and it didn’t let me down.

But, I’d gone through a copy of the magazine — with the red pen of my teaching career and made all kinds of edits and suggestions. Toward the end of our phone conversation, Laurie politely said I should share the edited copy with her. Of course, I did.

And she couldn’t believe all the corrections I’d made. She said she’d send me article to edit and I should keep track of my time.

Eighteen years later, I’m still keeping track.

For the next issue, she asked if I had any ideas for articles and I suggested she should contact Steve Collins who had built an Annapolis Wherry® row boat from a kit. Much to my surprise . . . and delight . . . she suggested I interview Steve and write the article.

Sometimes my voice still cracks and quivers when I interview people.

It certainly did during that first interview with Steve, even though we were both serving on a local board, and I’d known him for years, and he and My Guy had trained for the 1st Boston Marathon together.

It’s just that it’s always a step out of my comfort zone to set up a meeting and then actually come face-to-face with the other person, knowing that in the end I had to tell their story they way they envisioned it.

That first article will always be my favorite–maybe because Steve let me borrow and read and quote from his diary of the building process, and watch him at work. Maybe because I really liked how I had organized it, describing his process, but including snippets from the diary. Maybe because it was my first published article in Lake Living.

It certainly wasn’t my last and I’ve had the good pleasure of writing two or three articles per issue. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet so many cool, creative people who call this place home.

In the past week, I’ve been reflecting on the magazine and though I won’t tell you my least favorite articles that I wrote, and I can think of at least two–both interviews with the same person, though about two slightly different topics, I will share a few that stand out.

One was entitled “Bringing Earth to Life,” about Kathleen (Kathy) McGreavy, a potter from Brownfield we featured in Spring 2010. There were two memorable things about researching and writing that article: 1) Kathy let me throw a pot on the wheel, which she later finished, glazed, and gave to me.

It now holds some gear on my desk; and 2) I developed the article around the different steps of creating art on a potter’s wheel, beginning with wedging and continuing on through centering, opening and pulling, etc., and thought I was incredibly clever.

For the Winter 2013 issue, I wrote about a soul-filled choir–an a cappella group of women and men who sing for the terminally ill or those on the threshold between life and death, and their families. What was so special about that interview was that they invited me to sit in the center of their group. “I closed my eyes and suddenly I was surrounded with a cadence of voices in three part harmony singing ‘River of Jordan.’ I felt as if I was softly embraced by a warm blanket.” The memory still warms my heart.

There have been so many others, but the list is too long.

It was also a thrill to have a cover shot or two chosen from my many offerings, including this from Winter 2015-16.

And I do have to say I kinda like the article “What I Love About Winter” that appeared in that particular magazine. Things haven’t changed. “And the more time I spend outside, the more I love it [winter]. It’s not just the cool, crisp air that I find so exhilarating. During this season, the landscape reveals itself and all its complexities. Intense color gives way to details I may dismiss in other seasons . . . ”

All of this brings me ’round to the latest issue of Lake Living. If you’ve kept track since the start of wondermyway.com in 2015, you may have noticed that pre-COVID we published four issues a year. All that changed in 2020. This is a free magazine, which means advertisers are needed to pay for printing and distribution . . . and even me and my efforts!

With the onset of the pandemic it became difficult for Laurie to get advertisers (I’m proud to say My Guy has always advertised in the mag) and so we cut back to two issues: Summer and fall/winter.

This latest issue is probably the last.

Yes, let that sink in for a minute. You read it correctly.

Laurie is ready to retire. And it would be sweet if she could find a buyer.

I shall miss it.

I shall miss long conversations with Laurie where we first catch up with each other and our families and other interests, and then get down to the business of brainstorming as we bounce ideas around and laugh and talk and ask questions and toss presumed answers into the mix. It’s often out of these sessions that we notice a theme begin to emerge.

I shall miss seeking out all the people who do such interesting work in our communities and help make them thrive, despite my nerves when talking to them.

I shall miss the excitement of opening the final product–that smell of hot-of-the-press paper on crisp pages with fantastic layout created by Laurie and graphic designer Dianne Lewis.

What I won’t miss is opening the pages and realizing I’d missed a spelling or punctuation error or something else. But then again, I remind myself that only God is perfect and probably (I hope) only a handful of grammar police are on duty at any given time.

All of this said, dear readers, and now I present to you Fall 2024, vol 27. no 2.

Be sure to read my article about the Mountain Division Trail expansion coming our way soon. While writing this, I got to meet Andrew and Terry and Andrew’s young sons and learn about two incredibly involved people who care passionately about their respective communities and are volunteers extraordinaire.

Read also “Finding Rhythm in Weaving,” an article in which I not only learned a whole new technique, but also had the opportunity to get to know a fellow Episcopalian parishioner better.

You’ll find it here: Lake Living Fall 2024.

Be sure to read Laurie’s article, “In Praise of Print.” It’s her good-bye note after 27 years of creating this magazine that so many have come to love.

We know we’ve grown through this experience and hope the same has been true for you.

In praise of print indeed.