April started with my arrival back from a month in Australia and (astonishingly) no jet lag! I put on many thousands of kilometres by air and highway in my effort to see at least a little bit of South Australia, Queensland, Victoria, Northern Territory, and Western Australia. It is a big country, so obviously I'll have to go back. The stories and highlights that belong in this e-zine will be shared over time (it wouldn't be fair to hit you with it all at once, right?).
        
     There was no gentle re-entry to my work life and April saw me at meetings at the Banff Springs hotel (twice!), Calgary (twice!), and other exciting places. It is a busy time of year for Board meetings and especially for AGMs so my butt is getting sore from all the sitting. By June the meetings should be mostly cleared up as people start getting into their summer mindset. Several of the events I participated in had member or volunteer recognition components, and it is a great reminder that this is so important to our organizations! I am also seeing more recognition of employers who ease the path for their employees to volunteer on boards. If you're not doing this, you might want to think about it. It adds a nice touch to the events and it's important to make it as easy as possible for good people to volunteer.

     I just finished six years on the City of Edmonton's Community Services Advisory Board, including two years as Chair. This is the maximum time allowed and, while I am a proponent of term limits, I feel sad to be leaving this one. I often tell people who serve on boards that they are "good citizens." With CSAB, however, my participation made me a better citizen. That is a great outcome for all of us, I believe.

     I approach May with a good frame of mind, but I also know it will be a tough month. It will be my first Mother's Day without my mom, plus the anniversary of her death and her birthday. I miss her very much but time does help us heal. Grief specialist Dr. Alan Wolfelt says, "Reconciliation emerges much in the way grass grows. Usually you don't check your lawn daily to see if the grass is growing, but it does grow and soon you realize it's time to mow the grass again. Likewise, you don't look at yourself each day as a mourner to see how the healing is coming along. Nevertheless, over the course of time, you will suddenly realize that you've come a long way and taken those important steps toward reconciliation." This is certainly my experience. Here's a photo I took last May when mom and I got manicures. I love this: she chose hot pink, as she often did. 

     Below is a photo from my trip. This was the most impressive tree I have ever seen and despite -- or perhaps because -- it was in a caravan park, I met the quirkiest, sweetest people as a result of stopping there to admire it. They told me how sad they were that the prison closed ("It was a happy prison") and that one of them had been there thirty years because he got to playing scrabble with the other one (best of 73 games they decided, and just never stopped playing). I also met a rowdy young donkey named Billy and he was just like Donkey on Shrek. I would not have been surprised if he'd said, "Tomorrow I'm makin' waffles!" It is a wonderful thing how a tree, a couple of senior citizens, a trailer park, and bouncy critter could deliver to me one of the best days of my entire trip. I am still feeling very grateful for all of it.
  

 

  

__ Glass cleaner w/cloth 

__ Extra pair of headphones 

__ Shoe polisher 

__ Room freshener 

__ Energy bars (gluten free, dairy free) 

__ Sticky notes 

__ Memory sticks 

__ Charger/Adapter for electronics 

__ Extra pens, highlighters, markers 

__ Gum & mints 

__ Yoyo

Thank you, Shelley Andrea, for your great list. I especially agree with the Yoyo, as I also keep some toys in my emergency kit (fake spike through the head, squeaky gavel, clown nose, hillbilly teeth, pig nose, etc.). Sometimes you just need to quit taking things so seriously!

/lmwe

Thank you for your memories about 8-Track tapes. Here are a couple of them.

WINNER (of my 8-Track player and all the tapes)

Lori Bursey(Argo Diva) in Toronto, ON:

Your piece on the 8-track player and tapes brings back so many memories...driving in my girlfriend's blue Ford Pinto with windows (the crank kind) down, and the 8-track blasting tunes of Boehemian Rhapsody and Chevy Van, as we sang our little hearts out! It was the age of freedom as she had just gotten her driver's license (I was still too young) and with the wind blowing through our hair, we thought we had it, AND knew it all! The songs we sang were priceless with lyrics like "we made love in our Chevy van" ringing through the streets of Scarborough. Flash forward (1999) my friend Dave and I went to our friend Mark's house for a few adult beverages. Mark pulled out his old 8-track player and tapes from the Stampeders. As we were going through our 5th rendition of "Sweet City Woman", complete with beer bottle microphones, both the player and tape broke, and with it, our spirits. The link to our youth had suddenly been ripped away from us. We were crushed and ended the night with a few additional beverages to assuage our disappointment. Fun times!

 

RUNNER UP

Terry Wood in Barrie, ON: 

 

I saw your thing about the 8-track player. I once had a QUAD 8 track in the car. 4 channels. It was amazing. The best sound you ever heard - BTO, John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot, and 10 Years After. But you had to be careful because it would screw your head up and you would lose concentration. And please don't tell me you were a 2 time loser like me who went from 8 track to Beta. (NOTE: I was) Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

 

 

I enjoyed having this contest, so stay tuned for another one soon!