Flashback to 2001: I resigned from an advertising position I had with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio for 21 and a half years to take a leap of faith. I moved to Michigan to be with my now husband.
NINE JOBS LATER I lost my last job in 2007 due to downsizing. Four months after that, I lost my 18 yr old "Soul Kitty" Bobo, (who this blog is dedicated to, along with my precious Cody).
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| "Bobo" Portrait done by Becky Sorrentino Studio |
I am not a person who is normally prone to depression, but believe me when I say that from 2007 until Fall of 2009, the entire world seemed dark. I felt as if I had no purpose, it would be an understatement to say that I felt that life was bleak.
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| Glenn Gilbert, executive editor of The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Mich., and group editor for 21st Century Media’s Michigan Cluster, is retiring Jan. 3, 2014, after 45 years in journalism. (Photo by Tim Thompson/Oakland Press) |
Enter Glenn Gilbert. Long story short, after I attended a meeting where The Oakland Press was seeking Citizen Journalists,(thanks to my husband for seeing the original ad), Glenn contacted me to come in and meet with him.
What I didn't know until my meeting with Glenn, was that he had lived in Ohio for 14 years and knew of the stellar reputation that my former newspaper had, (at that time they were the 14th largest in the country), he also was familiar with my father's editorial cartoons.
We discussed the Citizen Journalist position and I told him that while I would be happy to do it, I just didn't feel that I was a good fit. I'm loud, quirky,
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| I mean seriously, THIS WOMAN as a CITIZEN JOURNALIST???? NOOOOO WAY!!!!! |
I had recently seen the movie "Julie and Julia" and after having heard that The Oakland Press had recently begun featuring blogs on their website, I asked "How about a blog?" Glenn told me to go home and email him some ideas. I sent three, Cat Chat With Caren and Cody was the first on the list. (At that time the name of the blog was "Cat Chat", until Martha Stewart grabbed the name and copyrighted it!) He agreed, I started the blog in October of 2009 knowing NOTHING (and I mean NOTHING) about uploading anything, let alone writing a blog. The Oakland Press paid for my link at the time (long time readers know my old link was http://opcatchat.blogspot.com or something like that, can't remember the rest! I didn't purchase my own link until last summer.)
Soon after I began blogging I found BlogPaws where I feasted on a banquet of information designed to help me learn how to become, and BE a better blogger.
MAKE THAT 1003 AS OF TODAY!!!
Without Glenn Gilbert, I wouldn't have met all of you. Dakota wouldn't have a blog. I wouldn't be a BlogPaws or Nutrish Ambassador, I wouldn't have had the incredible experiences with Purina that I was blessed to enjoy, along with many other opportunities. I wouldn't be writing about a subject and animal that I CHERISH: CATS, and doing something, that is incredibly time consuming, (much more so than my normal 8 to 5 job EVER was, AND INFINITELY MORE REWARDING IN MY SOUL, than any of those jobs EVER were), that I love, and have a fierce dedication to.
Glenn Gilbert gave me purpose, he brought back my belief in myself, he gave me a reason to wake up every day, he introduced me to the world of electronic media, he made it possible for me to grow, to teach myself things that I never would have dreamed I ever would have been learning, let alone doing. He opened my World, he BELIEVED in me.
Cody and I recently published our 1000th post (took us longer than it takes some because we don/t and NEVER will blog every day), and we have Glenn Gilbert and ALL OF YOU to thank for it. We thank YOU our faithful readers, for joining us, we thank Glenn Gilbert for opening a cat door, the likes of which we never even knew existed.
Glenn was a true pioneer, bringing electronic media to newspapers in Michigan as evidenced below.
Cody and I can't begin to THANK ALL OF YOU enough.....but Glenn, ESPECIALLY YOU because if we hadn't met YOU, WE WOULDN'T BE HERE!!
With much love,
and "Cratitude" and "CATITUDE!!"
Caren and Cody
