Opinion: I don’t like goodbyes. How about ‘Thanks, and until later’ instead?

Staff file photo / Then-Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Pam Sohn leans against a container on the refueling floor of the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in January 2012 during a TVA tour in which the refueling process was explained. Staff file photo / Then-Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Pam Sohn leans against a container on the refueling floor of the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in January 2012 during a TVA tour in which the refueling process was explained.

By Pam Sohn January 28, 2023 7 min read

I don’t really know how to say goodbye. But I must.

I’ve had a good run at this thing we call the “work” of journalism.

But after a 48-year addiction to news and the written word, I’m retiring and heading into garden therapy to work on becoming a recovering journalist. I won’t lie: I’m not sure I’ll ever fully recover. It’s been too much fun.

I’ve met and questioned a vice president, George H.W. Bush, who later became president, and another vice president, Al Gore, who won the popular vote but missed the presidency — no thanks to “hanging chads” and a regretful Supreme Court ruling.