Almost exactly a year ago to this day, I received an email from Lisa Matte. She introduced herself as the editor in chief of Global Traveler magazine and said she had received my contact information from a friend of hers who was an editor for one of my clients. She was in rather urgent need of a temporary editor/proofreader and hoped that I might be able to take on the position for a month or two if my qualifications were a match and I had the time to devote to those responsibilities. Hmmm. Well, I had years of experience as a secondary school English teacher, and several years, too, as a proofreader for several clients, so I was confident the proofreading aspect would not be a problem. I’d done little actual copyediting, but I also felt that I had the skills to conquer that part of the job as well. The timing for this offer was a little tricky, however. We had just put our house on the market, and my husband was already working out of state, so that meant I was solely responsible for preparing for a move and maintaining the house and yard in pristine shape for prospective buyers. Our oldest daughter’s wedding was coming up at the end of May, and I was in the process of making her rather elaborate gown. And, of course, I had work for my regular clients to continue. Oh, and did I mention I lived in Washington state, and the magazine is based on the East Coast?  I laid all of that out for Lisa in emails and phone calls we exchanged over the next few days, but I told her I was more than willing to help her out of what sounded like a tight spot if she was willing to give me a try and guide me through the process. That is when I was introduced to the remarkably supportive GT family. Art director Tracey Cullen sent me style guides and was always ready to answer format questions. Kim Krol saw to it that I got set up with email and provided access to the Web site and back issues so that I could familiarize myself with the magazine. And of course Lisa, who must have been wondering if she was actually going to be able to get the next issue out, patiently and calmly guided me through the entire editorial process and propped me up with lots of encouragement when I got overwhelmed. It didn’t take me long to see what a very classy and well-put-together publication Global Traveler was and how much pride and effort went in to it on the part of everyone involved. I certainly didn’t want to be the weak link in that formidable chain, and so I worked hard to learn as much as I could as quickly as possible. I took enormous pride in seeing my name for the first time on the masthead of the April 2008 issue of GT, and over the next few months became more familiar with the format and pace of the work. The “month or two” stretched out past the May wedding and involved four issues before Lisa informed me that she had found a permanent associate editor. I was glad that she had found someone who had plenty of editing experience and wasn’t three time zones away, but I was truly sad that I would no longer be working with such fun, dedicated, good people on such an excellent, well-respected publication. You can imagine my delight, then, when Lisa contacted me a few months later to say that she was adding a proofreading position to the production process, with a few additional duties, such as writing the weekend blogs for the Global Traveler Web site. Would I be interested? HECK, YES!!! (I’d never blogged before, but previous experience with these folks had taught me that I’d get plenty of support as a newbie, so what was there to fear?) And so, a full year after my initial introduction to the GT family, I am happy to say I am still (again?!) here and proud to be celebrating its fifth anniversary with them all. Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader