Good or bad, change happens

Not everyone reads every single one of my newsletters, so you might have missed that Delaware Currents is coming to an end, officially on Dec. 31, 2025. Here’s a link to that newsletter.

We’ll still be reporting and writing until then, though slowing down.

Because that newsletter was really important to me, I watched in real time as it went out.

I wondered what the reaction might be, if any. 

Thank you to the many of you who wrote to wish me well and applauded the efforts of Delaware Currents for the past 10+ years. 

Your notes and good wishes gave me a lump in my throat.

But as I was watched the automatic replies pour in, a theme emerged about what was happening to many readers whose newsletters were bouncing back. 

They didn’t get this one, or any of them lately.

Many of the bounced back emails used this phrase: “Due to the lapse in federal government appropriations…” or the vague uncertainty of the word “furlough.”

Oh my.

Once again, the impact of arbitrary cutbacks and the federal government shutdown hit me hard. 

I thought about these lives upended. And there’s a ripple effect, as some organizations that rely on federal money have had to cut staff in response.

Jobs cut, lives upended, good work curtailed.

I thought about people who loved their jobs and likely hoped that they would work in that agency for the rest of their careers.

I thought about parents who have had to scramble for healthcare coverage for their kids.

And those replies told me that I was very lucky to have had the privilege of deciding to end Delaware Currents. I will walk away because it’s time. 

I have had the good fortune of a spouse on whom I have relied on for unstinting support (as well as health insurance) for all of those 10+ years. My three kids are all in good places. What a privilege. 

But the voices in those emails remind me how transitions are a part of life. How they can often take us by surprise.

A job disappears. Falling in love. There’s a death in the family. Graduating college. An accident leaves you less able than you were before. Divorce.

Transitions — good or bad — are always challenging.

Even retirement. How do we wrap our brains around that the job that we once did, that defined us, is no longer “me”?

I think about how many humans, who love to live by water, want to hold their land despite nature’s constant theme of change. Storm surges, king tides, climate change.

I think this issue of transition is going to be a big part of my newsletter going forward.

If any of you would like to share your story of transition, reach out to me at meg@delawarecurrents.org

I would love to hear from you, and learn from you.

Whatever life has handed you, rosebuds or thorns, I hope you find the strength to continue on a path toward health and happiness.