setting the bar

The Diary of Anne Frank was one of the first books that hit me hard. I might have been in grade six when I read and wrote about the famous diary; I honestly can't remember exactly, but I'm sure my mom can. I do remember that I won some sort of award for writing a book report, and to this day the teacher who presented it to me - and whom my mom still sees occasionally - talks about how wonderful my book report was.

How's that for setting a bar pretty high - the need to constantly feel you are living up to some faded memory of writing a remarkable book report on one of the most moving stories ever told? And we know with memories, the tricky thing is that the good ones become great, and the not-so-good ones become horribly bad.

This book report may have escalated to some unrealistic representation of itself in the memory of a seventy-year-old woman who clearly recalls handing a trophy to a nervous young girl on stage, but who doesn't recall what she had for lunch the day before. In my mind, said book report is now a holy grail, a mysterious beacon that continually calls to me. Funny that I don't even remember what I wrote.

Now each of you knows what haunts me: a book report from ages and ages ago. Phew. I feel so much better.

Every one of us has that bar, visible (awards, trophies or other mementos) or invisible (the intangible memories of those who witnessed some of our shinier moments). What matters about these bars is that we hold them for what they are: moments in time.

These bars aren't measuring sticks, place holders along a series of anticipated events, or even contenders for a highlights reel. No, each of these bars - and some of us have many - are simply moments in time when we had something click with someone. We hope to have many of them, because we hope to have something click with many people.

The best thing we can do with these bars is to remember them for what they are, bring them out occasionally for a visit, then put them back in their place and forge ahead.

Okanagan Writing Services has been forging ahead - we're now on Twitter and are Tweeting almost daily about a variety of subjects; we've got a fan page on Facebook; we're slowly working through some assignments from our 'strategic partner' (love that phrase) Mintaka Solutions; and OWS has just sent out our first mailing to local Okanagan wineries to introduce ourselves and our services. To top things off, OWS is developing a postcard campaign to mail out soon - another little marketing stunt to hopefully raise awareness of our services.

That's a lot of work for what is supposed to be summer fun-time. But hey, we're worth it.

But OWS isn't just about work; it's also about play. Summer is a great time to play, especially if one resides in or near the remarkable Okanagan. We've traveled near and far: Maple Ridge, Vancouver, Langley, Spokane and the Shuswap (now affectionately known as the Shu'). We've visited friends, spent time recharging and rejeuvenating, and have met new people along the way.

The best part of the OWS summer is that it's not over quite yet.

Stories are unfolding all around, and we'll be trying to capture them as they land. The bar is high, and I have every confidence that new memories will be happily mingling with the ranks of those ones seated along those on the highest bar.

Thanks to everyone for making the OWS summer so rich and full thus far.


~ Jeannette