MARK SCHUMANN

When my wife, Cheri, a New England girl, returned recently from a week visiting family in Massachusetts, she told me she is ready to live where there are vertical horizons and four discernable seasons. “How about Santa Fe, New Mexico,” she suggested.

Several years ago, before I joined Scripps to help launch The Newsweekly, Cheri and I considered moving to Santa Fe.  It didn’t take any arm-twisting, then, to persuade me to embrace the move.

We will be leaving for Santa Fe later next month.  I have accepted a position with a regional arts magazine and will be working on several writing projects that are calling for my attention.  Most importantly, Inside Vero will continue, both in print and online, and I will remain involved in editing the monthly print edition, as well as contributing to the website, insidevero.com.  Cheri and I will be returning frequently to visit family and to attend to business interests.  Already, I have plans to be in Vero Beach in early October to attend Inside Vero’s candidate’s forum for City Council candidates.  What we hope will be a helpful and informative roundtable discussion will be held the evening of October 7 at the Heritage Center.

My colleagues, Kelly Coleman, Marsha Damerow, Janie Gould, Martine Fecteau, and Milt Thomas, are all committed to continuing to offer our readers thoughtful features and in-depth stories overlooked by the daily press and at times exaggerated, sensationalized or slanted by the island weekly.

After successfully launching LOVJuice and Peak Health & Fitness this year, Cheri plans to take time to discern what she would like to do next.  I will not be surprised to see her return to Pilates instruction, a practice and a discipline she has seen make a positive difference so many lives.

Cheri’s sister, Wendi Adams, is the new owner and manager of LOVJuice.  One of Cheri’s colleagues in Peak Health and Fitness, Tiffany Buskirk, has with great enthusiasm taken on that business.

Many people have told us they appreciate Inside Vero and want it to continue.  We will not disappoint them. The mid-May issue of Inside Vero will begin arriving in homes tomorrow, to be followed by editions each month thereafter.

Cheri and I will miss family and friends.  I can’t help but wonder, though, if there is a gift to be received and a lesson to be learned in the experience of drawing apart, for regardless of how many trips we are able to make back to Vero Beach each year, the distance separating us from those we cherish and love and the intervals between visits will place a premium on the time we are able to spend together. So, here is to staying connected, no matter how many miles there may be between us.