The cartoon at the top of the post was created by Rob Buchanan, the Revelstoke Review’s brilliant and award-winning cartoonist. Rob’s brilliant and almost every Monday morning he’d come into the office with a hilarious cartoon. People have told me they bought the paper just for the cartoon. My work was space filler between the ads.

The cartoon is fairly of my mindset the last few months at work. Many weeks, I just survived picking at the low-hanging fruit and shying away from big stories. I had ideas, but lacked motivation, and there are a few things I didn’t write about that I wish I had. I did bear down for a couple of a decent features the last few weeks, but that’s about it.

I actually skipped the last council meeting I was supposed to cover to go canoeing with my parents on Lake Revelstoke. There wasn’t much on the agenda, and I wouldn’t be seeing my parents in months. I have no regrets:

My last day of work was on Monday – another stressful press day, but this time, signing off on each page put me one step closer to the end. When I sent that last page to the printer, I let out an audible sigh and made myself a cup of tea. Then I realized I’d left a beer in the fridge the night before, so I drank that instead.

Everyone left and I stayed to clean my office. I cranked some music while I went through my filing cabinet that once upon a time I filled with hard copies of school board and city committee agendas, thinking one day I’d read them again. I never did.

I took my photos and diplomas off the wall and put them in a box, dusted and wiped off the desk, vacuumed the floor and that was that. My job has defined me in Revelstoke, and now I had let it go.

Of course, you can’t just let it go. Today, I saw a big truck carrying the first units of the Mackenzie Village townhouse development down the street and my first instinct was to stop and get a photo. On Wednesday, I went to Salmon Arm to get my yellow fever vaccine and when they said their vaccines were stolen my first reaction was to let my colleague at the Salmon Arm Observer know. My second reaction was to find out if there was a black market for the vaccine. Only then did I worry about where I would get it from if they didn’t have it here. In the end, they had a vaccine sent by courier to Revelstoke and a doctor there delivered it to me. The clinic also said the vaccines weren’t stolen, and that the missing drugs were an inventory error.

This week has been both relaxing and stressful. There’s the joy of lying in bed just a bit longer, but the stress of having only a week before I leave on my trip. The joy of spending six hours at the Bierhaus drinking with a succession of friends on Monday, followed by the stress of all the last -minute preparations. The joy of riding shuttle laps at Blanket Creek, and the stress of not being entirely sure if my new passport will be ready on time (it will be).

Three days to go…