Canadian Blog Results (I Won)

OK, I'll admit it. At five minutes to five, I was on the computer and checking the blog awards announcement. They'd done the awards well, I thought, by having a few awards announced each day so that the suspense was heightened. For me, my two categories were on the last two days of announcement. This was OK with me because I liked the anticipation of the announcement - in anticipation is hope. The blogosphere citizenship award came first, on Wednesday, and I got 'bronze' and was pleased to win the little 3rd place award graphic for my blog. I had to admit, though, I didn't really 'get' the citizenship award and why I'd been nominated for it. Sure I recycle, compost and vote - but none of that goes into my blog so who would know. I remembered the 'citizenship award' which was given out every year at high school and I remember that the truly cool kids would have shriveled up and died if they'd even been nominated for it. So getting third was OK.

The Activist award, though, that one I understood and that one I kinda wanted to win (are you allowed to say that?). So I was very excited at 5 minutes to 5 PST as I sat by the computer and waited to check on the site to see how I did in the voting. 3 months before this moment I'd never heard of the Canadian Blog Awards and now here I am humming the national anthem and tracing a picture of a maple leaf on the dust on my hotel room desk. Belinda and I had joked about feeling like we were sitting in an auditorium, clutching hands, with little speaches of thankyou tucked discretely away. Well I had no speech, I was in my housecoat, and I don't think there's a red carpet anywhere in 100 Mile House.

I Won! First place in the Activist Award. I grinned as I called Joe over to the computer to verify that I won. It was great. I wanted to actually give a speech that thanked everyone for voting, but more than that, I wanted to thank everyone who's ever left a comment on the blog. The comments keep me going and often are better writtten and more thoughtful than the blog written about. I wanted to thank Joe because, well, I always want to thank Joe, but particularly because he's added, 'have you written your blog?' to 'did you take your pills?' and 'have you gone to the bathroom we're about to leave'?' in his litany of morning before we go to work questions. I would have thanked Belinda for getting me started on blogging - I'd never even heard of a blog until we had tea one day and she told me about hers. I imagined an auditorium with a RAMP up to the podium and that was enough of an image to make it all worthwhile.

Later.

Joe asked if the award was the high point in my day. I had to be honest, it was up there. But 'no' it wasn't. The high point of my day was being out and about in 100 Mile House and finding people to just be friendly. I didn't get stared at in the chair, no one talked to me like a child, no one patted my head or stroked my shoulder, strangers joshed with me like they josh with out of towners, a guy asked me if I was going to do a wheelchair dance if I won the lottery (after he'd seen me buy a ticket). A whole day in a town with manners. How cool is that?

Just a little cooler than winning an activist award was being in a town without even the slightest need to be an activist - for a day.