Time, as you get older, seems to fly by. It’s hard to believe that we have only three more issues to publish before the new year begins.

2022 seemed to be a year of questions.

Will we have another major outbreak of COVID-19?

How are we going to afford food, clothing, medicine, home heating costs, etc., etc. with this inflation?

What will the summer tourist season be like?

Can anybody find an affordable place to live in our communities?

Except for the COVID-19 pandemic not raging its ugly head during the past year – although this week’s flu report isn’t good – and the tourist season rebounding very well, the other two questions roll into 2023 unanswered.

Inflation is hitting everyone and hopefully our state and federal governments can work hard on easing the pain of forcing us to decide what we can afford this week, this month, etc. Grocery shopping is a lesson on learning to eat less and looking at the home heating fuel prices is scary.

Having lost an employee because he couldn’t find an affordable rent for his family within a reasonable commute has hit our newspaper hard and we are sure other businesses are in the same boat. Hopefully the proposed housing development in Boothbay will be approved in the next year to provide young families with local apartments and homes so our businesses can worry less about not having enough help.

We’re sure there are other questions which came up in 2022 still swirling around in your minds but these two unanswered ones seem to be paramount at this time.

On to finishing out the year!