I have been writing a weekly column for over two years now and it still surprises me when people who I do not know, meet me for the first time, and tell me they read my column. I write a column about living in Prince George, my family, my husband, myself and anything else that I find interesting or irritating. The topics are chosen by me and I write them, usually right before my deadline or just after my deadline (most likely the former). Sometimes, the well runs dry and I have no idea what to write about. Usually, a topic will present itself right as I sit down at my computer as I frantically try to finish my column as I am fending off the children who want to "help mommy with the concuter" or who need a diaper change. I am in fact writing this column while my son is keeping up a constant conversation with me about the toys that he's playing with and I have to stop writing periodically to take the dog food out of the baby's mouth.
This last week, I met a reader through my work. I was involved with a work event that ended up being delayed by two hours so a few people who were waiting to pick up students were looking bored and annoyed. I struck up a conversation with them and apologized for the delay. One of the men who was waiting then said to me: "Well, it's not like I read your column every week. I hate it." I laughed and said: "Thank you for reading," and we talked about my column. He told me that when I first started writing he said to his wife, "who cares about this woman's life and kids and husband from out of town. This is stupid." Then he told me that he still reads it every week and waits to see what we've been up to next. Then we both laughed about it and I said that I would try to write more interesting things over the next few weeks.
It is challenging to write a weekly column, more so when you don't do anything. I work full-time, have two young children, a dog and a husband. I write on the side of my life and I don't get out much. There are so many horrible things going on in the world right now that I think about and I talk about with my friends and family but I do not write about them. I don't write about them because everyone else is. I read about the events in France, the kidnappings of girls in distant countries, the murders of children and it makes me sad and grateful that my staid life is punctuated by projectile vomit and Thomas and Friends. I hope to write about the positive things about living in our little community and I hope that, in my own way, I contribute to someone's good day.
So Steven, I hope you have a great day and thank you for reading.
