Carlson: Why my return to The Oklahoman was emotional

Standing in the hallway outside the door to The Oklahoman newsroom Monday morning felt a little like waiting outside the schoolhouse on the first day of class.

I was mostly excited but a little nervous.

Then Jacob Unruh came around the corner to let me in, and seeing a familiar face made me a hundred percent excited.

Monday marked my first day back at The Oklahoman, and after spending 24 years at the paper before leaving last fall, you’d think returning wouldn’t be an emotional event.

Rest assured, it was.

Walking into the weekly staff meeting felt so familiar and wonderful. I count as friends so many of the people who were gathered around the table Monday morning that wasn’t long before I was ribbing Ryan Aber about the 2021 OU-Texas game not being ranked high enough and commiserating with Scott Wright about how this OSU football season is starting to feel a lot like the season JW Walsh got hurt.

I can’t wait to start telling those stories and others with you, dear readers.

But before we get to that, I want to say that I’m forever grateful to Ray Rivera, executive editor at The Oklahoman. He was gracious when I left a year ago, and this past spring when I found myself without a job, he was not only willing to meet with me but also enthusiastic about the possibility of bringing me back.

A few months later, Ray made it so.

Thanks to him, managing editor Ryan Sharp, sports editor Jeff Paterson and everyone else who has welcomed me back with open arms.

I’ve had several hushed but excited conversations in press boxes or before press conferences over the past few weeks with old co-workers who would soon become new co-workers. Their enthusiasm for my return was such an uplift.

The past year has been challenging.

Leaving The Oklahoman was difficult. I cleaned out my desk on a Saturday morning when I knew the newsroom would be empty, and while I thought it would be emotional, it wasn’t. Because at that moment, I was just leaving a place.

Had the newsroom been filled with people?

My friends?

I might still be crying at my desk.

Joining Sellout Crowd was challenging, too. Sure, I was energized by the people and friends who I was working with, but we were doing something new and different. That meant long hours and heavy lifts.

Then in January, several of us learned that the whole operation had been built on a financially flimsy foundation.

In May, Sellout Crowd folded.

I could see it coming, and yet, it was totally shocking. For the first time in my adult life, I didn’t have a job. The day after I graduated college in 1997, I started work at The Kansas City Star, and I had been employed every day since. I went from The Star to The Oklahoman to Sellout Crowd, being careful each time to make sure I had a job before I left a job.

Now, my job left me.

What was I going to do?

Many wonderful friends pointed me toward job opportunities. Some were in sports journalism but not in Oklahoma; that was a non-starter because I wasn’t leaving. Some jobs were sports-related while others were journalism-related.

In my heart, I knew I wasn’t done being a sports journalist, neither in the long-term nor the short-term.

With the encouragement of several friends in the days after Sellout went kaput, I launched a Substack page which I ultimately called Beyond the Boxscore. The Thunder was knee deep in the NBA Playoffs, and the college softball postseason was soon to start, so I knew I’d have plenty to cover.

Did I ever.

It was a thrill to be there when the OU softball team won its fourth consecutive national title, to talk to Alex Caruso a couple days after he was traded to the Thunder, to see the new faces at Big 12 Football Media Days in Las Vegas (I’m still recovering from the heat), to be the new faces at SEC Football Media Days in Dallas.

And this football season, well, you know the ups and downs, but man, there has been no shortage of drama or intrigue.

Gives me lots to write.

But now, I’ll be writing about it as well as some other non-sports stories for The Oklahoman. It is an honor and privilege to be a part of this team again, and I hope to continue doing what I’ve long done: tell the stories of Oklahoma.

After this past year, I hope to do it better than ever. You see, I don’t regret this past year. I learned so much. I grew as a journalist and as a person. I expanded lots of relationships and made new ones.

I think of it as a sabbatical year from The Oklahoman where I went out and learned and experienced and grew. Now, I have even more tools to use in telling stories in our state.

But for now, I’m just going to enjoy the excitement of this first day back. I only changed my outfit three times. Maybe it’ll only be two tomorrow.

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Carlson: Why my return to The Oklahoman was emotional