Jeremy L. Berg

For fun I’m reposting a summer series from 2010 from when I took a paper route while trying to get MainStreet started. Enjoy!

I picked up a weekday paper route this summer to earn some quick cash as we begin to plant a new church.  No, this isn’t the cute little 30 papers in a saddle bag on the back of my bike kind of route.  I’m talking 350 Star Tribunes stacked from floor to ceiling in all seats of my car. I put on some 50 miles of driving each night.  I’ve been leaving home about 1 a.m. and crawling back into bed around 6 a.m.

Fortunately, I’m getting faster each day and hopefully will have the entire thing done and back in bed by 4:30 soon. (Update: This never happened!)

Becoming a nocturnal creature brings some strange experiences and observations that I hope to share in future posts.  Being out and about while the rest of the (human) world sleeps is quite interesting.  For now I will just leave you with a typical scene that occurs almost every night: deer in head lights!

In only 2 weeks I have probably seen 30 deer.  They’re everywhere.  Stunned and spooked as I approach, one almost jumped in my driver’s side open window.  Other night dwellers include dozens of rabbits scurrying across the road, entire families of raccoons skipping along like furry four-footed bank robbers with masks in place.  I’ve had to break for cats out in the country multiple times.

I get to thinking that this is their time of the night, and I’m interrupting their parties.  Each one I look in the eyes seems to glance back thinking, “Shouldn’t you be in bed, human?”

Yes, I probably should.