It was destiny

The other day in the newsroom, we were talking about how journalism is "in the blood" of many of us. When we started talking, I recalled how, after a bout of wanting to be a ballet dancer, I always wanted to be a writer when I grew up. For as far back as I can remember. But as for newspaper work, I couldn't remember specifically wanting to do that.
Then, it hit me. When I was little, definitely in elementary school but I have no idea what age I was, I actually made my own newspaper. I was over at a neighbor's house, and we sat one afternoon drawing out newspaper pages and stapling them together. We probably made eight-10 copies of our newspaper, and then we walked down the street putting them in people's mailboxes.
Thinking back on it, I can just imagine how hilarious it must have been for those people to find a little kid's handmade newspaper stuffed in their mailbox.
Once we told our parents what we'd done — we were so proud — someone, I can't recall who, told us it was illegal to put things in people's mailboxes. I started to panic. Would the mail police find me?
What a funny memory, and one I hadn't remembered for years until we had that conversation at work. Turns out I wasn't the only one who "played newspaper" when I was little. Our sports editor said he used to write sports stories off games he'd watch on TV. Another sports reporter said he'd keep stats for his electric football game players.
Clearly, there is passion for journalism among those of us who do it. It's just too bad that the industry can't support our passion, especially in this day and age.