President's Corner

FEBRUARY 2008

NTRWA President, Jen FitzGerald

Dear Chapter Mates,

I write this month’s column by hand—with pen and paper, that is. The electricity is out and it’s silent in my house save the ticking of a single battery operated clock and the rushing of the wind outside—which knocked out the power in the first place. Despite the fact that it is a Tuesday afternoon, I cannot work. Every aspect of our business, even the phones, require power.

Forced time off. A blessing and a curse when there’s so much work to be done.

The absolute silence—normal silence is rarely completely silent anymore—is lovely. I rarely get to enjoy the silence anymore. There’s almost always someone in my house other than me, and with them music, X-Box, or computer generated noise.

But this small moment in time is one to savor. Moments like this are few and far between. So why am I writing about it rather than doing it? Because I rarely do nothing. I am a multi-tasker. Even when I make coffee or tea, I fill the time I wait for the water to boil or the coffee to brew by taking out the trash, sweeping the floor, or switching out the laundry.

Well, the moment is over. People have come home. I’m no longer alone to enjoy the true silence.

 Well, it’s four days later. The power was restored several hours later and it was back to work. The house is relatively quiet now. I hear music coming from a far room, I hear the washing machine busy doing its thing, and the air purifiers are whirring their white noise, but it’s about as quiet as it gets in my house. And definitely a thing to be savored.

So I’ll end this now so I can go enjoy the quiet while I can.

Hope to see you at a meeting soon.

Sincerely,

Jen FitzGerald