Time to Spread Our Wings
Many analogies come to mind when processing the end of Bay Weekly Part 1 — the first 27 years. How do you define letting go of your baby when it is a business? Emotions run from grief to excitement and relief.
I haven’t been part of the team since the beginning, but I did get swept up in the early years — 1996 to be exact — when I met and subsequently married co-owner Alex Knoll. Lately, I have sat on the sidelines watching him struggle over the future of his life’s work. So for me, it’s bittersweet to know Bay Weekly will live on, only with new parents.
When first introduced by mutual friends in Washington, D.C., Lex (his nickname) was a young entrepreneur who was regarded as an up-and-comer in the Annapolis area. He fished with legends (Bill Burton), was highlighted in The Washington Post, had VIP tickets to concerts, plays and fundraisers throughout Anne Arundel and Calvert counties and lived in a tilted log cabin with a leaky roof in Woodland Beach.
When we decided to get married, I was told I had to move to Annapolis because he was rooted and I had flexibility. So I moved from Georgetown and landed in the Annapolis neighborhood of Murray Hill. We married in 1997.
When I was laid off from my branch manager job in Towson while on maternity leave with our son, Jack, Lex encouraged me to join the family business. I was an experienced sales manager and knew the product (at the time I was writing a weekly food column for the paper with the byline Gabby Crabcakes). He offered me flexibility and opportunity. At the time, I welcomed the temporary role. Selling ads for the paper let me work with businesses far and wide and got me involved in many civic and networking organizations. My temporary job lasted almost 15 years.
I’ve been fortunate to make amazing friends along the way — Sara Poldmae, owner of Meadow Hill Wellness, Teresa Schrodel, of Medart Galleries, and Stacy Greenstreet, of Greenstreet Gardens, to name a few.
We have laughed and cried and amassed amazing behind-the-scenes stories. We moved from Deale to Annapolis and fought through the Great Recession.
We have loved and lost furry friends — Max, Moe and Nipper. Now we worry what awaits Chester when he no longer gets to be the office dog.
The New Year will be full of change in the Knoll household. We have so much to be thankful for. Son Jack is now in college and daughter Elsa, eagerly awaits acceptance letters. The nest never seemed emptier.
Now it’s time to spread our mid-life wings and see where the wind takes us and trust Bay Weekly will be in good hands for many years to come.