Every now and then when I page through my old notebooks I find interesting things I totally forgot.

Most of the notebooks are interviews I did for my newspaper column. Sometimes I don’t remember the interviews from so long ago, and sometimes it’s fun to relearn about past subjects.

Truth be told, it’s no wonder I can’t remember every interview. I tried doing a count of how many columns and feature stories I’ve written for the Times News since I started in Oct. of 1978.

I’m poor in math and had a hard time figuring out how many columns I wrote through the years, but it’s safe to say it’s been over 1,800.

In all those years of writing Warmest Regards it was important to me to never miss a week. When I was away on vacation I wrote the column in advance, reminding myself it was my responsibility to turn in a column each week.

I didn’t think my boss Fred Masenheimer even knew all I did to make sure there was a column each week.

Turns out he never missed a thing and he, too, did his bit to make sure there was always a Warmest Regards.

Here’s something he did that touched my heart. When I had to have to serious neurosurgery I gave up on the idea of having a column that week. I had more serious things on my mind that week. And to tell the truth, after listening to the doctor tell me all the things that might result from the surgery I didn’t know if I would even be here to write more columns.

The week of my surgery there was, indeed, a Warmest Regards. Fred wrote it himself, telling readers all I did for the paper.

He told things I didn’t think he knew, such as how many times I missed dinner or worked through the night to write stories.

Fred’s caring management style is just one of the reasons I can truly say I never worked a day in my life.

Sure I might have been employed by the paper for decades, but nothing I did was work. It was my passion and my joy.

I have always loved to write, and working for the Times News was incredibly rewarding. I appreciated the fact that I was given total freedom to pick the people and subjects I wrote about.

I mentioned not knowing if I would survive the neurosurgery. To be truthful, Hollywood couldn’t write a better outcome.

I was told by the surgical staff that I would most likely be in a coma for a while after the surgery so they advised to put on a little weight ahead of time. Instead, as they wheeled me out of surgery I was fully awake, asking the attendants if I had missed lunch. They thought I was joking. I wasn’t.

I couldn’t eat for a few days before surgery and I was hungry.

But all that happened before and after the surgery changed my life in important positive ways.

It also changed what I wanted to write about.

The experience taught me a little about what those facing death go through.

One thing I learned from interviewing some hospice patients facing death is that they can’t share their fears with family members. They keep being told they will be OK, even though they know they won’t be here much longer.

My resulting newspaper feature focused on this essential end of life issue where those facing death often have to keep their feelings to themselves.

My publisher and editor might have been a bit hesitant about some of the stories I wrote, but they fully supported me and let the stories run.

I consider the interviews and stories I did following my surgery to be some of my most significant work because it was all about crucial life and death issues. But it never would have happened without the journalistic freedom I was given.

I never shared much of that with readers, but it has dawned on me that readers should be told some of the background to the column many of you read each week.

Just as I am grateful for a supportive newspaper I am ever so grateful for readers who have been with me for years.

Without readers there would be no column.

I never could have continued writing the column for so long if I didn’t have the encouragement of so many readers.

I never have taken the opportunity to sufficiently say thank you for your loyalty and support. So let me say it now.

Thank you for your notes and for your support that has sustained me more than you will ever know.

There are times when I am lifted up by readers who write to say they have been following the column for many years.

Just this week I received a letter from a longtime Lehighton reader who actually sent one of my columns that ran on Aug. 22, 1998. He didn’t say why he kept that column about how we are often unfairly judged. But I so appreciate that he took the time to send it.

For the Times News management, my helpful editor and for my readers: This is just one heartfelt thank you for all the joy you all bring into my life.

Email Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net