“Oh, the places you will go, and the people you will meet,

And the stories you will write, that all will be so sweet.

And those photos you will take, they will all be such a treat.”

My apologies to one of my favorite authors, Dr. Seuss, for my rather poor attempt to paraphrase one of his best books for kids.

But my version is one that maybe should be for future newspaper writers and photographers. It is the reason I once got hooked on journalism in college, in general, and small-town newspapers in particular.

And, it has pretty much worked out that way. I have met a lot of people and interviewed them, from war veterans to vice presidents of the United States. From victims of domestic violence to famous athletes.

And everyone in between.

Same goes for photos. I have taken a million pictures in my career, maybe more, and I don’t think I am exaggerating. Some have won awards and a few I keep in a file that contains some of my all-time favorites. A few dandies did not last, however, as it was pre-digital days and the negatives are long gone.

The most fun parts of my job are talking to people, finding out “their story,” that thing that is most interesting about them, and then writing a story about that thing and sharing it with others. The other fun part is taking photos. And trying hard to get that picture that also tells a story.

The worst part of my job, you may ask? Well, I will let you know when I figure out what that is.

It is not the fact that it takes a bit of effort to get those stories and photos for each week’s edition of the Faribault County Register. Even when it takes a bit of extra effort to get it all done.

This current week was one of those weeks. It was a lot of effort over eight days to get to everything we wanted to get covered for you, our readers.

Now before you start to send me an email, text or call me or even stop me on the street and tell me that, “Hey, Chuck, don’t you know that a week is seven days and not eight,” let me just say that sometimes we clock weeks as eight days in the newspaper biz. And besides, have you never heard of that Beatles song, “Eight Days a Week?” The Fab Four were right…

Let me tell you about this week, which for me “started” on Friday, Nov. 28, after that week’s paper “went to bed.” I took some photos of kids at the Dino Museum on Friday, photos of scarfing the Big Jolly Guy at Giant Park on Saturday, and some kids having fun roller skating on Sunday.

Then the actual “normal” week starts on Monday, Dec. 2, with covering a very long City Council 4-meetings-in-1 session followed immediately with taking photos at a BEA concert. Tuesday was going to a concert at USC in Wells in the evening, and a meeting in the morning and one at noon. Wednesday, as it often is, was a night at home.

Thursday was a long day putting the paper together, then another concert of Genesis Academy kids in Winnebago. Friday will be a visit to the elementary school where those crazy campers will be, then photos of a tree lighting in Blue Earth, plus a Santa visit to the Knights of Columbus and gifts for some special folks in the evening.

What about writer-photographer Kevin Mertens you may ask. Well, Kevin covered a Winnebago City Council meeting on Monday and a basketball game at USC, an EDA meeting on Tuesday, a wrestling match on Thursday, Frosty Fest in Winnebago on Friday and the Maher Wrestling Tourney on Saturday.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not me whining. We both like what we do. Plus, it keeps us out of trouble, because we are kind of too busy to get into much trouble.

This coming week, you may ask? Well, you can find us at several meetings, a few sporting events, several school concerts and maybe even at a surprise event or two.

All because we want to let you, our readers, know all about things that are going on in Faribault County.

And, trust me, there are a lot of things going on in Faribault County. Just take a gander at some of the photos that are in this week’s Register.

Of course, we are not the only busy people in this modern world. Lots of moms and dads of young kids tell me they can barely keep up with their children’s busy schedules.

There are lots of ways to stay busy, especially this time of year.

Thanks for taking some time out of your busy day to read the Register, and making all our efforts worthwhile.

We will see you around….here, there, and everywhere.