Every December, the staff at The Post-Searchlight begins compiling headlines for our “Year in Review” feature and choosing stories for our “Top Stories of the Year” list.

It’s always a little staggering to dig out our copies of editions from earlier in the year and reread the news.

“That was this year?” is a common exclamation from me. Maybe you have the same responses when you read our lists, too.

However, the news in 2018 for Bainbridge, Georgia, is the crown jewel in my more than five years covering this amazing region. Seriously, a lot happened this year, folks.

We signed a deal with one of the largest firearms manufacturers in the world to build its headquarters right here in Bainbridge. We saw local murderers indicted and major drug traffickers busted by our outstanding law enforcement. We saw a longtime business close, and a whole batch of new businesses spring up. A school even shut its doors, at first worrying families and students but ultimately saving our school system insurmountable amounts in the long run. Our softball team was crowned region champs for the first time ever on their way to a 27-win season.

We were obliterated by the largest hurricane to hit our state in October and two months later rallied behind our football team as it etched its name in Georgia sports history. That sentence alone was baffling for me to type, and yet we lived it! In fact, if there are two editions of The Post-Searchlight I could imagine residents holding onto, it’s those two events right there.

It was quite an exhausting year, and if you’re anything like me, you’re crawling to the finish line with barely anything left to give for 2018. But for everyone who lives in Bainbridge, it was our year. All the highs. All the lows. These moments were ours.

The headline for this column might sound like an oxymoron to those who weren’t here, but I think nothing could be more true.