Sarah Gassen: It’s time for me to say farewell to Tucson | Local Editorials and Opinion

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The following is the author’s opinion and analysis:

This is my refrain these days.

It is time for me to move back to St. Louis, where I grew up and where my parents, brother, and family still live. My last day as editor of Star’s Opinion will be October 15th.

I am ready for a new chapter in a popular book.

In 1990 I moved to Tucson to study at the University of Arizona. I stayed, built a full life for myself. I worked for the Arizona Daily Star for 25 years – nearly half of my time on the planet – serving the community that welcomed me so kindly.

When I visited St. Louis for the first time in two years in April, something changed. I went there a couple of times a year for the past 30 years, but this time I felt different. Restless. My inner compass continued to sway, unsure where to point.

When I feel insecure, I turn to nature. Ants always seem to know what they’re doing, don’t they? There is consolation in that. How does a salmon know it’s time to swim upriver from where its life began? How do birds and butterflies feel when they take flight to return to familiar trees?

When I drove past my high school in my rental car and thought about my three years at the school newspaper and how I was an opinion editor then and am an opinion editor now, it clicked: I’m the salmon.

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