And Then There Was Drew

The first law of thermodynamics asserts: energy cannot be created or destroyed; it will only change from one form into another.

And then there was Drew

Even now, I write these words with a mind filled with confliction. I wonder if twenty-five years is too much time to conceal the truth or (in this case) not nearly enough.

Let be known that I consider myself a serious journalist. I can say with no trivial sense of pride that: for the twenty years I’ve been at the Pinon Chronicle, we’ve managed to maintain a high standard of both ethics and honesty.

I’m relatively certain that there are writers like me in just about every city and town in America; the local journalist, newspaper reporter and editor that works hard to get that big and not-so-big story, and get it right.

I’ve always been a columnist who believes that self-respect and credibility are dependents of printing unbiased news with facts from vetted sources. And those elements (to me) are what make the profession rewarding, important and dare I say: respected.

I suspect that if you hadn’t pulled this story of mine from a time capsule that was buried twenty-five years ago, you’d be thinking: this jabber-mouth is trying to sell me a subscription…I know I would. But the truth is: I’m just trying to emphasize a point: I wouldn’t ever intentionally let a misleading article go into print...not ever; that would be a breach of our journalistic creed.

But in the summer of Y2K mysterious events created circumstances that lead to my temporary departure from that creed.

Mysterious, you ask? Well, to put a finer point on it…because: then there was Drew.

I know not everyone will agree with my decision to employ deception, but maybe after understanding all of the circumstances you might come to empathize with my judgment.

Drew is my third and youngest son. He’s a smart and kind young man with long standing tendencies for mischief. He’s always been that way, often testing the patience of his teachers, parents and siblings. And what has always made Drew’s roguish inclinations more exasperating for me and my wife, more than they might be for other parents, were Mathew and Kyle.

Mathew and Kyle are Drew’s older siblings and (since birth) those two boys have been the prime example of model citizens. Being twelve and ten years ahead of Drew, the older boys were in high school before little Drew was completely potty-trained. While Mathew and Kyle shed their last diaper around 18 months; Drew just couldn’t be trusted until around five years of age; with a fair number of indiscretions after that as well. There was always one more page to color, a dinosaur brawl, a Tonka truck traffic jam or some similar emergency brewing in his bedroom that seemed more important than sparing his trousers an odiferous baptism.

Yes, that was one of the earlier signs that alerted all of us, that we weren’t totally prepared for Drew. It was unanimous; we all came to the same assumption: Drew was different than his brothers and was going to be a challenge. And we weren’t wrong. But it wasn’t until shortly after his twenty-first birthday that we all, including Drew himself, realized just how truly different he really is.