In a different world, we’d be in Pittsburgh this week, learning and networking and discovering new technology together at the 2021 International Seating Symposium (ISS).
But in this world, we’re home — or if we’re traveling, it isn’t to the ISS… which is what makes this week bittersweet. We look forward to January 2022, when, fingers crossed, we’ll be together in Pittsburgh. We’re saddened that we’re not meeting now.
This week, I’m looking forward to something else: Mobility Management’s 20th anniversary, coming up next year. If you contributed to our first year — if you did an interview, wrote a column, bought an ad or sponsorship — expect me to check in with you to reminisce, both personally and for the magazine. We’ll be remembering, celebrating, and feeling grateful all year.
When Mobility Management launched in the spring of 2002, we were in uncertain times. I was a rookie editor, having been laid off from my previous job as a managing editor just a few weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks. We launched Mobility Management during one of the most turbulent, uncertain periods of my lifetime… only to see the Complex Rehab Technology industry — known as rehab or re/hab back then — embrace us, teach us, support and protect us.
New businesses are notoriously difficult to launch and sustain, and new magazines are no exception. Mobility Management would not have survived without you. And we know it.
So our celebration is truly your celebration. Thank you for welcoming us, for supporting us, for telling us when we fall short, and for extending us a hand to help us get back up and move forward.
Once again, on the verge of our 20th anniversary, we’re in one of the most turbulent, stressful periods of our lives. This time, though, I know what we have achieved together in the past. And that makes me hopeful.
Until we meet again in person: Thank you. Be kind to yourself. Take care. See you soon.