Well this time last Tuesday I was probably a bundle of nerves. I could not seem to concentrate and 7 p.m. could not have gotten here fast enough. Is it not funny how when we are doing things we enjoy time seems to fly by. However, if you are in a situation where you are ready for something to end or for results to come in, time seems to slow down to a crawl.

I was waiting for the polls to close so that I could see how the election turned out. It was actually around 7:30 p.m. before we had any results, but the day seemed to drag by ever so slowly.

To say running for a political office is an experience would be an understatement. However, I will be honest and say that it was one that I truly enjoyed. Lynn and I both discussed how we actually spent more time together campaigning than we have been able to recently. Not that we do not spend time together, but running a newspaper tends to take up a lot of your time. She spends many nights at home while I am still at the office writing stories or working on ads for the paper. In fact, she sometimes felt like a newspaper widow, which I am sure others in the business have family members who feel the same way.

This all changed in June when we announced that I would be in the running for mayor. We began the journey putting up political signs all over Hartselle. In fact, I believe I traveled a couple of streets that in all of my 54 years in Hartselle, I had not driven on or maybe even knew existed, prior to this. There were many evenings that we would leave the newspaper office around 5:30 p.m. and work on putting out signs until much later than we should have been. Around 9:30 or 10 p.m. we would stop the sign effort and go to Sonic and eat a late meal sitting in the truck.

Now, that might not seem like a romantic time, but those five hours each evening were more than we had spent in several years; many evenings each week. I enjoyed that time we had together, and I enjoyed what we were doing as well.

Moving a little closer to August, we began the door to door campaign and again we would leave the office around 5:30 p.m. and begin the trek of going to each house in the area Lynn had mapped out for that day. We really enjoyed meeting so many people in Hartselle and speaking with them. In fact, last weekend it really seemed odd to not be out talking to folks.

I enjoyed learning where folks lived and visiting with them and many were kind and even offered water to us on those really hot evenings and Saturdays. Several also offered to let us come in and cool off on those 95+ degree-days.

It was quite a ride this summer; I truly enjoyed the majority of the campaign. We met some really great people and had lots of fun working with so many of our friends. Our sons and their girlfriends even got in on the action and it was truly a family affair.

It was a journey from beginning to end and one I am glad we started.

Randy Garrison is the president and publisher of the Hartselle