Birthing a new online news and information website is no easy task — it takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make it happen.

But the job has its perks. It has given me the chance to meet so many of you since launching this site one year ago today.

It's been a pleasure getting to know you. You've all been great, you've welcomed Patch into your homes, you've sent me emails, made comments on the site, and I just want to say thank you.

I decided to use this one-year anniversary as a chance to reflect back on some of the events over the past 12 months.

Just a month after we launched, the metro area saw a record amount of snow that literally closed down our cities. Roads were impassible, trips to the grocery stores, to restaurants and shopping centers, all came to a hault. Even the U.S. Post Office couldn't get through to deliver our mail for almost a week. At Patch we spent our time taking snow photos and keeping up to date with school, business and road closings.

A year ago, the city of Peachtree Corners was just a dream for this community, and now it's a reality. I consider it a privilege to have been able to witness the birth of a new city. It's not something many of us get to experience in our lifetimes. And I look forward to covering the upcoming elections and all that follows.

And this time last year the citizens of Berkeley Lake were struggling with how to pay a $3 million repair tab on their storm-damaged dam. Fortunately, FEMA came through and will reimburse the city for the majority of the repair cost. The work has yet to begin on the repairs but by our second anniversary, the lake should be full again and citizens should be enjoying the centerpiece of the community once again.

And there was a lot more, but rather than trying to recapture the past year's events in words, take a look back at a year in photos. And feel free to add your own.