Nothing lasts forever. There couldn’t be a more accurate statement in life than this one.

If you would’ve asked me years ago what my life plans were, I would’ve replied, be the best journalist that I could, put out a quality product for our readers, enjoy my time at work with my father, Pipes Gaines, my brother, Scott Gaines, our colleagues and semi-retire one day, hunt and fish as much as possible, travel to Gulf Shores a few times a year with my family, grow old with my wife, Brianne, and watch the kids grow up.

But fast forward to June 30, 2022, and those plans changed forever. All I had known since being a young boy was the newspaper we had owned for 140 years. We let go of our baby that day when we sold to Boone Newsmedia and Carpenter Newsmedia of Tuscaloosa, Ala.

It was a hard pill to swallow that day for sure.

I remember as a young kid my mom, Susan Gaines, taking me down to see my dad, my late grandfather, John B. Gaines and my late great-uncle Ray Gaines. I loved seeing them, talking to the employees in the front office, seeing and hearing the press run and the smell of ink in the building.

After the announcement, I received countless phone calls, texts and emails, all which meant very much to me, asking about the sale of the paper, how I was doing and what my next move in life was going to be.

My initial response was I’m obviously sad and it was hard to let go of a newspaper that our family had owned since 1882. The comment I heard most from them was, “I’m so sorry to hear about the newspaper. That’s all you’ve ever known.”

They were right. As a 10-year-old, I was a newspaper carrier on Wakefield Avenue. In junior high and the first two years of high school, I was a custodian at the paper working under Obie Fugate and David Spence, two men I admired and respected deeply. I ran advertising proofs around town for the newspaper during my junior and senior years.

At that time in my life, I recall thinking what hard work this really was, especially the custodian job, but in the back of my mind I knew why my dad encouraged me to do these jobs and that was to learn the business and perhaps one day if I chose to be a newspaperman, know the business from the ground up.

I’m glad my dad did this. It made me appreciate the business a lot more and in starting there as a green reporter in 2001, I didn’t feel that I had the job handed to me, but rather I had earned it.

I started off as a general assignment reporter, city and government reporter and court and police reporter. My favorite beat was the latter. I loved reading the police reports and indictments every morning, talking to officers and covering some pretty interesting trials.

One of the things that I loved about those beats was the many people that I got to interact with and the relationships, some of which I still have, that were formed through being a journalist. Later, I became editorial page editor and editor in 2013 and remained in those positions until the sale of the newspaper.

Looking back at my nearly 22-year career at the newspaper, there are some things that I really miss and some things I don’t.

I miss my former colleagues the most. Chatting with them about work, how they and their families were doing and listening to them on their thoughts about the industry. I miss sitting in on some very interesting editorial board meetings. I miss writing some of the editorials for the paper. I miss the many people I met through the newspaper. I miss looking at what was going to be in the newspaper on any given day and I miss breaking news. I miss sitting on the Kentucky Press Association board where I had hoped one day to be president as my grandfather and great-great-grandfather had once been.

There are many things that I don’t miss: the hundreds of election chain letters I had to type in for the paper as editorial page editor; the nasty phone calls that I would often receive, and I don’t miss the hateful emails that I would get from people about stories and editorials. Many hateful emails I received were from people who wouldn’t even reveal their names. Several of my former colleagues would refer to the people who wrote them as having “keyboard courage.” We’d get a big laugh about the people who talked tough, sometimes threatening us with physical harm, through emails.

I don’t miss the, “Well I’m so and so in town.” That never impressed or scared me and I treated them just like anyone else.

I’m very proud that we were never afraid to take on controversial issues locally, in the state and on national issues. We took a lot of heat locally from some of our editorial positions, but looking back we did what journalists are supposed to do and that is report the truth, call out wrong if we saw it being committed and that we never put our finger in the air to see how the political winds were blowing when we wrote editorials that some might not like.

I’ll always miss working at the newspaper. I was blessed to be able to work alongside my late grandfather for six years before his death in 2007. I am blessed to have been able to work alongside my dad and brother for nearly 22 years. I’m also blessed to have worked alongside some very good journalists during that time, some who are still there today.

While my newspaper days are now behind me, I am very happy in knowing that our successors, Boone Newsmedia, have kept the newspaper going in town under the leadership of General Manager Joe Imel. Imel, who is a very dear friend of mine, is a superb journalist. He knows that business inside and out and I feel he and his colleagues have and will continue to inform the public on a daily basis and put out a quality newspaper for us to read.

Every town needs a newspaper. They act as watchdogs in the communities they operate in. They not only inform the public, but they also expose wrong and in some cases corruption.

I’m very proud to be a subscriber to the Bowling Green Daily News. I’m extremely proud of the people working in the different departments there every day to put out a quality paper. Some people tell me that they get their news from the newspaper on their phone. I think that’s great, but I’m an old soul and I will always continue to get my news by holding that newspaper in my hand every day until my last breath.

It’s been over a year since we sold the newspaper. I miss it every day. I will always hold a special place in my heart for the newspaper. And although it’s all that I’ve ever known, I’ll be OK. I will figure out the next chapter in my life at the right time. But I’ll mostly be OK in knowing that we left behind a proud legacy and that the Bowling Green Daily News will continue to thrive and work hard to inform the public under the watchful eyes of Imel and his colleagues at 813 College St.