There is no easy way for me to say this — and I’ll likely have a tear in my eye on the day — but here goes. Come the end of March, more or less, I will be retiring from The Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier and Kennebunk Post.

I will miss you. I have enjoyed writing about you and your communities.

But I need some Tammy time.

I started with the Courier and the Post, both Mainely Media weeklies, in the fall of 2019, after the demise of the daily Journal Tribune, where I had worked since Jan. 26, 1998, mostly covering Sanford, the small towns west of the turnpike, and York County government. In all, I have been a reporter for 35 years — I spent 10 years Down East, in Washington County, Maine and Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada, before my husband and I moved south. I worked briefly for a Sanford weekly when we first arrived, then left journalism for 10 years, working in an antique shop and for the Meals on Wheels program in Sanford, Lebanon and finally Kennebunk before returning to the news biz.

I loved it. I still love it. I love telling your stories. I loved covering municipal government and county government. I really enjoyed the cops, courts and first responders bit — there are a ton of story possibilities, enough to keep a reporter busy for a very long time — and not just the crime part.

But busy is my problem at the moment. I’m too busy.  And I just don’t have the mindset that allows me to merely write a few stories, call it good and not worry about it, so I have made the decision to bow out.

I have been fortunate enough to enjoy what I chose to do for much of my working life.

For those who have trusted me with their stories, thank you.

I am “retirement age,” whatever that means. I plan to take some time to decompress, do a little gardening, read a few books, and not worry about deadline. Then, I may reenter the workforce, part-time, if something surfaces that sounds interesting.

Take care.