According to U.S. Census Bureau data, each person in the United States will on average move residences 11 times during her or his lifetime.

According to data retrieved from my memory, I rank well above average having moved 16 times – and that counts college, with three different dorm rooms and one off-campus apartment, as just one singular residence.

A handful of my moves have spanned only a couple miles; my most recent relocation measured just four blocks; and one boyhood move was merely two houses away, while others were marathons.

Perhaps the most memorable move was also the longest, driving coast-to-coast towing a U-Haul behind a stick-shift pickup truck with my newlywed wife and me, plus our two dogs, shoehorned inside the two-seat cab. Apollo 11’s capsule was less cramped, yet we repeated the claustrophobic feat returning to California from Delaware.

I have moving on my mind because today I make another memorable move – from Saturdays to Fridays in order to remain in The Star’s print edition. In some ways, it feels like my toughest move ever. After all, Saturday mornings have been my column’s home for nearly 11 years. Before me, Saturday’s were also home to Chuck Thomas, Bob Holt, Joe Paul, Jr. and Julius Guis, legends all.

Change is often not easy and moving Saturday’s edition of The Star exclusively online will surely upset some readers. But here’s another thing about change: while it can be a headache, it also often brings unexpected bonuses. Let me share a story…

My paternal grandfather, I have little doubt, would have bought an Apple Macintosh home computer when it was first released. Too, if he were alive, he would without question excitedly stand in line for the latest iPhone and just as surely read his favorite newspaper on an iPad or laptop rather than get newsprint all over his fingers and thus require extra hand-scrubbing before delivering a baby or performing surgery as a small-town country doctor.

You see, my Grandpa Ansel loved technology and had a history of being an early adopter. For example, long before he had the first color Zenith TV on his block, Grandpa bought one of the very first ballpoint pens manufactured – an expensive “Reynolds Rocket” that cost a princely $12.50 in 1945.

“He loved that pen,” my dad recalls, adding with a laugh, “for about two days.”

On Day 3, the state-of-the-art writing marvel sprung a leak that left a huge ink stain over the breast pocket of Ansel’s Arrow white dress shirt. It looked like he had been shot in the chest and was bleeding dark blue blood.

Not only was Grandpa out 12 bucks and change for the pen, but another $4.50 for a new collared shirt. However, instead of ranting at technology’s foibles, Grandpa shrugged it off. He just said, “A shirt salesman needs to make a living too” and bought a new Arrow – although it was a couple years before he bought another “newfangled ballpoint pen.”

While you cannot clip out a cartoon, recipe or column from online and stick it on the refrigerator with a magnet, “newfangled” e-editions still boast many advantages from speedier delivery to never getting soaked in the rain. Maybe those of us who have shunned The Star’s online edition will finally take the leap on Saturdays and learn to navigate it – and, very likely, learn to love it.

“When you leave home,” Maya Angelou said, “you take home with you.”

I like that thought: I’m leaving Saturday’s, but also taking them with me to TGIF. I hope you’ll keep visiting me.

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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com