From The Chief Editor's Desk

Spring is back upon us. Thunderstorms, tornado watches, and tornado warnings are things that come with the annual arrival of Spring, at least in my neck of the woods. In fact, it's the same thing in Meemaw's neck of the woods too, especially since she lives about three or four hours away from me.

I keep looking at my yard, thinking about how I haven't even gotten around to doing my annual service routine on my lawn mowers, and the grass is high enough that it's begging to be mowed. Of course, I don't have as much time as I used to for such tasks. When I'm home, I'm Mr. Mom while Laura works. When Laura is off, she's home with the kids while I'm at work. That one day a week that we have off together ... one of us is on call at the hospital.

With the recent influenza epidemic, we've been getting called into work at the hospital on the only day each week we have for family time. It goes without saying that we're glad that we're on the downhill side of the influenza epidemic. Take it from someone who works in the hospital, the flu was very, very bad in our area this year. Now -- maybe -- we'll actually get some family time, with the hospital not demanding every waking moment of our lives.

I keep telling everyone at work that (as of April), I'm on the "8 and 3 plan." That is, 8 years, 3 months before I can retire. I plan to retire "early" at 65. I'll take the "penalty" for retiring two years early, just so I can stay home and raise my kids. Plus, once my house is paid off, my plan is to reduce to part time hours, just so we can have some family time. My house should be paid off within the next three to four years. By then, family time will be all that much more important to Ryan and Lexi, not to mention mom and dad.

At least, that's the plan. We also want to buy some land (around 10 acres) in the country. We want to put a small cabin on it, and we can go there to hunt and just get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

So, until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, serenity and prosperity.