Sunday, September 23, 2018

I can't not do this.

Many of you know that last October I was elected to council here in Fort McMurray. Over the last year I have dedicated myself to my new role as councillor, and yes, a year in, and I'm still loving it. I know it sounds silly, but I still can't believe it. I'm so lucky to say that my job is working for the residents of the Municipality of Wood Buffalo. It's an honor I promise I will never take for granted.

But I'm going to be honest, the last couple of months I have felt like something was missing, and I couldn't figure out what it was. Luckily I have wonderful friends and when I started vaguely saying that I felt something was off, I started getting feedback that I should be writing again. But I brushed them off. But then over the course of the last few days when I really started thinking about it, I realized that I do miss it. I miss the connection and the interaction. 

So I'm not sure yet what this will look like, or how often I will get to post, but I do know a few things that you can expect. As a councillor, anything I write will respect the office, and it will not be a reflection of the rest of my councillors or the mayor. As a councillor, I will never, ever write about anything related to labour, legal or land as we are never suppose to speak about such things publicly. It has been hard over the last year when I am asked some questions and I cannot share information. There are have been some huge issues that we faced as a new council over the last year, but because the courts are often involved, we cannot speak about it. When those things happen, I will let you know that I just can't talk about certain things. 

I do want to share information that people can use. Even in the last few days I have attended some events, and afterwards people have said, "I wish I had known that was happening, I would have liked to go." So I will share events, and when I attend events or public meetings, I will share my thoughts on the material shared. 

The question that I am most often asked lately is about my weight loss, so I will definitely writing about that as well. Otherwise I will follow my old patterns, and share recipes, life stories, and whatever comes up in my day to day comings and goings. 

This week I'm not sure how much I will get to post, as I will be attending the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association(AUMA) convention in Red Deer. It will be fun to start sharing some of these types of events with everyone. Ironically before I was elected I was not sure of the value of these conferences for elected officials. Last year when I attended, we were able to meet with several Ministers and we were able to get some movement on several issues that were outstanding in our region. This year we will do the same.

Tuesday morning I will be attending the Grand Opening of the Elsie Yanik school at 331 Callen Drive. It starts at 10:30, and is open to the public. I was lucky enough over the years to have many meaningful conversations with the amazing Elsie Yanik. I am so happy that this new school will bear her name. In her quiet gentle way she inspired many to live better lives and to do more for their community. 

Thanks to my family and friends who encouraged me to get back to my writing. It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't write, but it literally feels like life is wrong when I'm not writing. I have been writing over the last year, but nothing that I would share with the public(as I always have done with journals, etc). My next big leap is that I want to share some fictional stories that I have written over the years. I just need the courage to finally let them go out. 

I'm already excited for this new journey, I hope that you will tune in! 


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