I am very excited to be back behind a desk at Coast Reporter covering the community I love. For those of you who don't know me, a quick recap. I came to Coast Reporter in 1999 straight out of journalism school in Calgary. Back then, we were just called The Reporter and we published out of a little pink house on Cowrie Street.
I was with the paper until 2003 when I had my first child, Kaitlyn, and then I took a year off to spend at home with her. I was back in 2004 and stayed with the paper until 2007 when I gave birth to my second child, Ryder.
After that I couldn't seem to find affordable daycare that would allow me to work full time, so I freelanced on the weekends doing photography and I came in to cover events or stories when the work load was too heavy for staff reporters. During those years freelancing I also cleaned houses and community halls and wrote for anyone who was willing to pay me, just to make ends meet. I longed for the chance to come back to the paper and get back to working just one job.
In the past few months a good friend of mine set up a childcare facility in her home and I realized I had finally found quality, affordable childcare. I just needed a job.
When Jenny Wagler announced her departure in December, I was quick to let editor Ian Jacques know I was interested, and to my delight, he and associate publisher Cathie Roy hired me back. That's how I came to be back at the paper and I've been smiling ever since.
Being a reporter at Coast Repor-ter allows me to do what I love most -tell the stories of people who are making a difference in our community -and I've been put back on my old beats of covering Sechelt council and school board, which is a delight as I have a vested interest in both. We live in Sechelt and my daughter is in school now, with my son ready to start in 2012.
Know that when I write a story for our paper I'm writing it as a Sunshine Coaster. I may have moved here from Alberta all those years ago, but I have long since hung up my cowboy hat and exchanged it for a pair of gumboots. My husband and I have found the perfect place to raise our family, and if I have my way, you'll be seeing my byline for at least 12 more years, as I wait for my kids to graduate and then we start a new season of life. But we don't ever plan to leave the Sunshine Coast. This community has welcomed us and supported us and become our surrogate family over the years. Know that I care about this community, about our quality of life and about securing a future that is sustainable for our children. Although I am now a full-time reporter, I'm a mom first and I want the best for all our children who will inherit whatever legacy we choose to leave.
I hope you will welcome me back to my posting here at the paper, and I look forward each week to uncovering and sharing more of the Sunshine Coast stories that make us unique.
If you have a story that needs to be told, please email me at [email protected]. I can't guarantee it will be investigated and ready to write by next week, but any story worth writing won't drop off my radar and will be completed as soon as possible. As much as I'd like to think I know about everything going on here, the truth is there are too many programs and initiatives to stay on top of it all. If you don't let us know what's important to you, something extraordinary may get missed. And I want to make sure anything that matters to you gets the ink it deserves here in our pages.
