Looking at some good years ahead

I'm coming up on 10 years in the newspaper business, and during that time, I've seen my share of the funny, sad, heartwarming and just plain strange.

My strangest story ever involved a man who was still searching for his stolen dog five years after it was taken. He wanted to offer tips on how to keep your dog from being taken and what to do if it happened.

I thought it was an interesting story. The interview started out fine, but later, he went off on a tangent. He started talking about cloning.

Of course, I assumed he wanted to clone this dog he loved so much. I was wrong. He wanted to clone himself, so that he and his wife could have a child together.

He had even found someone in Chicago who would do it for $3 million, and he was trying to raise the money to do so.

As he was talking, I kept edging my way toward the door, afraid of what he might do. I just wanted to get out of there.

I still wrote the story, but I think he is actually probably the strangest person I have ever interviewed.

I love the elderly and children, and I have written a lot of stories about both. I especially love to write about people 90 and older and their experiences growing up in a totally different world.

I was so excited several years ago, when I got a chance to interview a 104-year-old man in Manchester. He was able to share life experiences I can't even imagine but just had to put down on paper. He passed away about two years later, and my story was used as part of his obituary.

I think it is the duty of those of us who can write to keep the legacy of an older generation alive. I loved listening to my granny tell stories about her childhood, and I regret not recording her. I wish my six-year-old daughter, Tessa, would have been able to hear those stories.

I was also always assigned the children who were suffering from cancer or some other terminal illnesses. Everyone who knows me knows how sensitive I am. Even when I'm not pregnant, sentimental and sad things get to me.

These stories often bothered me, staying with me long after the story was written, especially when the young patient didn't make it. I went through two of those during my time in Tullahoma, but the ones who survived a terrible diagnosis lifted my spirits and made me truly believe in miracles again.

When I got started in this business, I never realized how many friends I would make. The first story I ever did was about a 90-year-old man, sharing what it was like seeing most of the 20th century, which was about to pass. He had just moved into an assisted living home, and I went to interview him.

I spent the morning in his apartment, listening to his tales. Come lunch time, he invited me to eat with him in the cafeteria, and I did so.

A few weeks later, I made the front page with a picture of the fall foliage turning colors. He had it laminated, framed and brought it to me to keep on my desk. I still have it at home.

When our daughter was stillborn, I received more than 50 sympathy cards, many e-mails and about a dozen phone calls from the people on my beat. Each one was a little reminder someone cared.

I've received cards, cookies, candy, and other thank you offerings from people who liked the stories I did about them.

This business allows us to become intimately aware of the circumstances of people's life, and I know of no other field that can come close, except for maybe psychology or medicine.

I am so thankful people have allowed me to come so close, as I wouldn't have been able to do the stories I have. I love a good story, and I'm so motivated when I hear about a good one to write it.

I love this business, but I have decided to go back to school to do something different. I am one semester away from having a bachelor degree in psychology, another field I love.

I submitted my application the other night for an online program that will allow me to finish my degree and move on to get my masters. I am very excited about doing it and also excited that I will be able to stay in the newspaper business while pursuing my degree.

I think in some ways, psychology and journalism are related. I will still be hearing people's stories, I just won't be writing about them.

So, for the next two and a half years, I'm going to be a mother, wife, newspaper reporter and student. I wonder if I'll ever have any free time again.

-- Tamara Belinc is a staff writer. She can be reached at tbelinc@t-g.com.