As I sit down to blog today my mind goes back to the day I lost the Election in May,2011. I had sensed the defeat coming. I was already wondering where my heart may lead me next. Yes, heart. I have followed the dictates of my heart all my life. Not unthinkingly, but followed them nonetheless. It was clear to me and my family and friends that win,lose or draw-this was likely to be my last election. I was ready to chart the next and hopefully the yet most exciting phase of my life.
At the beginning of 2010, we had moved out of our home for renovations. The work was slowly underway when the election came. Before and during the election I paid no attention to the renos or any other household things for that matter. That ,by the way, is the nature of the beast that is politics. If you have the passion for it, it can be all consuming. As luck would have it , the defeat at the polls turned out to be exactly what the renos required. A man and his wife who, for once in their lives, could pay undivided attention to each other and the renos project that was at once frustrating and rewarding.Frustrating for the vagaries of what passes as the construction business now a days. Rewarding because for all its faults and 'could have beens' we love the place where we now enjoy having family and friends over. It is fun. The back yard, the plants and the ability to just be. It has been absolutely refreshing and rejuvenating.
I am relearning the art of uninhibited writing. Writing what you want to, how you want to and when you want to. That is not easy. Once when I was young it used be. I still feel young. I still have dreams. The words are beginning to reknock on my brain's door. That door, luckily as it has always been, is still open; open to new ideas, new possibilities and new dreams.
As I cleaned up around the reno/construction site everyday starting in July,2011 to December,2012 without any hired help, I was able to reconnect with my past as a farm boy and as a manual labourer. I thought of my days in Britain, working in a crayon manufacturing plant melting the wax, mixing the colour and then pouring the on the holed surface of the crayon machine. After the coloured wax cooled in the machine as the cold water circulatred through its veins I would scrape the excess wax, raise the crayons, collect and stack them in a box to be packaged by others. My mind would also wander into the days of pulling lumber off the green chain at a saw mill. That was my first job in Canada. An injury to my back made sure I stopped doing that. My experience in the labour market had been long and varied before I went back full time to school in Canada. We shall talk about that some other time.
There are still some minor odds and ends that remain to be completed around the house. That is life. Its work is never ever done. That is why my mind has now turned to my library. In addition to spending time with my grandchildren, friends and family and gardening I am back reading a lot as I used to when I did not have the cares of active politics or an elected office. Yes one reads a lot in politics. But then all is not pleasure. Some of it becomes work as in any calling. In my case currently I read only because I want to. Not because I have to.
My urge to write made me think of blogging. I am not tech savvy. My typing is painfully slow. My previously excellent spelling skills fell prey to years of legal secretaries and then the political and ministerial staff. There was almost no need to write then. Short hand and dicta machines destroyed what ever writing and spelling skills I had.I am not complaining. No excuse. Just the truth. Of course my staff has always been competent , dedicated and loyal. The fault is entirely mine.
I will write on many issues. Definitely the current local , national and international issues. And many more. Sometimes about politics. At other times about life after or apart from politics. Some of you may be surprised. There definitely is life after politics. As for most things one has to be alive to it. One has to respect what happens to you. Remember,and I am paraphrasing someone, life is not what happens to you. It is what you do with whathappens to you. My life will change as I respond to my condition. Hopefully that change will make me a better man. At least that is the hope.
One of the challenges for any human being is to remain relevant to the reality around you. And to retain that relevance without losing or betraying the authentic self. It will be no different for me. This challenge is always there staring one in the face through out one's life. So in a sense even with great change there is continuity. The need to be honest with yourself and the need to be true to your ideals. One of the differences for me will be going from an intensly public to a less public life. One thing I now realise that I did not before is that once an intensly public life, though somewhat less so upon retirement can never be completely private. And that is alright.
The blogging is uncharted territory for me. I am sure I will learn a lot. This is my fourth post. I have not let Rami(my wife) read it. She would have admonished me for rambling on. You might too. I do have thick skin. Let it rumble.