How you've surprised us

It's been three years since we took the leap and sent the very first Axios Raleigh newsletter to your inbox.

Why it matters: This journey of bringing you a daily newsletter has been a blast for us, and it's flown by. In the last three years, we've become more deeply embedded in our community, grown to love our cities and region even more — and learned to lighten up.

• Writing a daily newsletter has also been full of surprises.

Driving the news: Until we made the jump to Axios, we both spent our careers working for newspapers, so writing a daily newsletter was a big (and honestly scary) change and challenge for us.

Here are some of the things that have surprised us most in our last three years of regularly appearing in your inbox:

Lucille's take: I consider myself a serious politics reporter, and when I started at Axios, I was hellbent on making sure my state government sources still saw me as a dedicated, news-driven journalist.

• Three years ago, I thought that if I spent too much time covering restaurant openings and my favorite cocktails in Raleigh, newsmakers wouldn't respect me as much. I couldn't have been more wrong.

So my first thing that's surprised me: Writing about restaurants, bars and lighter stories about Raleigh has been the most enjoyable part of the newsletter for a shocking number of our readers, including those who originally subscribed for politics or business news.

Second: Our readers love our outros! Some of you have told us that you scroll down to the bottom of the newsletter before reading anything else in it, and it's delightful to know that you care what we're thinking about, worrying about, listening to, eating, drinking or reading. (You also love when we make fun of each other, so we'll keep doing that.)

Third: Raleigh is way more of a small town than I thought. I run into our readers everywhere, and one of my favorite things ever is when you say hello and introduce yourself. Please keep saying hi if you see us around!

Zachery's take: One of the things I love most about this job is that it gives me a reason to call up interesting people and, often, they will answer.

• Those conversations have opened my eyes to how many talented people live here in the Triangle, from writers and reporters, like Frank Bruni and Valerie Bauerlein, to artists and bands making some of the best music in the country, as well as all-star chefs dreaming up adventurous menus, like Cheetie Kumar and Ricky Moore.

Second: You truly care about what's happening around the state. Whether it's about the impacts of Helene in the mountains or what's happening on our coast, you don't tune out news outside of the Triangle.

Third: If I am ever without a clue of what to make at home, our readers always save the day. You all have shared some of what have become our favorite recipes (especially one for saffron cake).