Driftless Now: a personal side during a pandemic
Where to begin, where to begin…how about March 2020? Ugh!
Having started Driftless Now back in April of 2019, Amanda and I have enjoyed immense growth and support from our readership and people across the Wisconsin Driftless region.
Along the way, we have met people from all walks of life and were privileged and entrusted with sharing their stories. From human interest, business, and environmental stories, and an array in between, our journey has been your journey as well, figuratively speaking anyway.
Though we found winter can be a challenge when finding stories, we were managing to do quite well. Then, well you know how it goes, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Businesses closed up, and people became skiddish to meet for an interview, rightfully so. In retrospect I did not want to risk getting sick or expose my family to any harm.
As a small business we appreciate the economic impact that has affected a majority of business owners. This is where we had to get creative. Calling on our contributing writers is what truly has kept us afloat. Bob Potter, Len Harris, Dena Eakles, Lee D. Van LanDuyt, and Linda Godfrey, have played an invaluable role in keeping content on DriftlessNow.com. We thank them and recognize they are Driftless Now just as much as me and Amanda are. DriftlessNow.com would not be as successful as it has been pre-pandemic and will be in the near future without their important contributions.
To our advertisers, you have been the supporting backbone that makes it possible to operate. Don Slama and Slama Sally-Kraemer of Hillsboro Equipment, Mauston Equipment, and Slama Lawn & Sport in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, Rick and Amy Sebranek of The Cheese Store and More in Hillsboro, WI, and Dan Howard Program Developer and Director of Marketing and Community Relations at Gundersen St. Joseph’s Hospital and Clinics also in Hillsboro. Thank you for believing in DriftlessNow.com.
Beside this pandemic, my family has had its ups and downs as well with health. Some may or may not know that Amanda is pregnant. After burying two of our premature sons Antonio four and a half years ago and Josiah one and a half years ago, and an eight-week loss last October, Creator has blessed us with this life. Now twenty-eight weeks along, our daughter Aniah Princess is due via c-section this coming September 21st. Amanda joined our sons’ names for our daughter to carry, a name that honors her brothers before her. Leave it to me, I gave her middle name Princess. Yup, named her after my cat. She will be our Rainbow baby and Princess all in one.
This pregnancy has not been an easy one as Amanda has been in and out of the Meriter Ante-Partum ward in Madison. Though diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and having bouts of high blood pressure just within the pre-eclampsia spectrum, mom and baby are doing well.
I on the other hand, have been through an angio and heart catheterization at UW Madison Hospital. I still am having issues and symptoms that have been challenging to say the least. An end of July doctor appointment will hopefully shed some more light on what else could be happening. We stay strong in our faith that Creator will see us through.
So, with the effects of this pandemic on our business, the pregnancy, and my health issues, things have been, well different, requiring that cliché’ ‘Think outside of the box’.
My great auntie Thea always would use a phrase that I do my best to live by, “Do the best you can with what you have”. I do my best to include this in my everyday walk of life.
While, I can not predict the future (shocker lol), I do know, no matter what gets thrown our way, somehow, some way, DriftlessNow.com will get back to telling stories from the Wisconsin Driftless, on the regular basis our readership looks for.
As always, be well.
