I got back from Europe almost two months ago but it’s passed by pretty quickly. I feel restless, but I also feel tired (I’m working, for the first time, full-time in “grown up” – as opposed to casual or summer – employment), and I’m bad at saying hey. I did very little the first three weeks, but little by little, I caught up on the coffees I agreed to and dined with the people I missed, and finally I’ve begun to feel busy as if I have people and things that really occupy my life. It’s nice.
I’ve been lucky to have a number of my fellow MPAs working in the same building as me, i.e. mutual support and lunch buddies, so even while I was feeling lethargic, I wasn’t nearly as lonely as I would have otherwise been. After a few weeks, I began to catch up with other faces I’ve missed and it finally picked up the week of 22nd August. It was the week that Jack Layton died… (I didn’t believe it when I first saw the headline on my desktop) Alex flew in for FanExpo/Srafcon (yay Sraffies!) that afternoon and I went to meet him at his hotel across the street from City Hall , where I came upon the spontaneous tribute at Nathan Phillips Square.
I ended up walking by/through the Square a few more times that week and it was heartening to see that even when it rained, the chalk messages of love, hope, and optimism were up again almost immediately. It’s been two weeks now and despite the rain and even hoses out to wash it away, it’s all still there (today’s Labour Day parade was dedicated to him). I ended up going to the state funeral with Lavenya, and since then I’ve been thinking a lot about social democracy and what that really means (especially in the context of having returned from a year of studies in social policy as well as an exchange on Swedish politics and a month staying with a friend in the employ of a German parliamentarian; of Canada where we don’t have a tradition or history of corporatism that exists in Europe and a little bit in Quebec; and of my new found employment in government).
For now, all I can really do is watch, I think. This week I am worrying about my mom flying home tomorrow, seeing my sister and her boyfriend the next day, and then heading to Michigan the day after for Dawn and Nathan’s wedding. (Yay, Sraffie wedding!) After that, I’ll worry about signing up for French classes, taking more epic walks, and things that might appear on a To Do list.
