One of the best parts of weekly newspapering is you get to do a little bit of everything.

That's how my newspaper career began in 1995 in Waynesboro, Ga. at The True Citizen (no relation to this newspaper).

On the editorial side, I covered council meetings, school board meetings, recreation department meetings and high school sports, taking pictures everywhere I went. There was also a weekly sports column to whip out at the last minute and a paper route that made it all worthwhile.

The small-town newspaper delivery route is very gratifying. Drop off a stack at the corner gas station and watch them descend on it like an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet.

Watching people satisfy their craving for newsprint always lifted my spirits. It showed that they care about my work.

Or they needed to know where all the good garage sales were going to be Saturday morning.

I grew up around a newspaper for the first 15 years of my life. My father ran The Union County Advocate in Morganfield, Ky., just like my grandfather and great-grandfather.

Even though it called for a 4:30 a.m. wake-up call, I always enjoyed the paper route with Dad. We'd make about 20 stops under cover of darkness, and I'd usually manage to con him out of a Sunkist half-way through before we wrapped up the route with breakfast.

We sold The Advocate not long after my father died of cancer. Mom couldn't raise three kids and run the paper at the same time.

And we didn't know back then that I'd get hooked on newspapering. At first I wanted to be a beat writer covering the Atlanta Braves. Then I wanted to be the next Lewis Grizzard.

Who knows what the future might hold. But right now I'm just happy covering the local news and taking pictures. Maybe before too long, I'll get another tiny paper route...

John Munford is a 1991 graduate of McIntosh High School and a 1995 graduate of Georgia Southern University. He and his wife, Marilyn and their son, Tylor, live in Fayetteville.