Well, I haven’t posted in quite awhile.  The reason is simple- I find it hard to blog about my life with I’m anxious about something going on that I’m not ready to share about.  My husband tells me often that I can be honest to a fault… Mostly when I’m correcting his tiny “truth stretches” that make a story more impressive!
Many of you know that the director of the Main Street program here in Enid is retiring.  Main Street is a national program basically promoting downtown and historic areas, focusing on the four points of Organization, Promotion, Design, and Economic Restructuring.  The Oklahoma program is under the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and provides support to the organizations in Oklahoma cities or towns.  The program in Enid began in 1994, about the same time my family moved to Enid.  All of my information about the program at that point came through my Sunday School teacher, the lovely Lindy Chambers, who was at that point a volunteer.

Lindy eventually became director of the program and after I did some growing up, moved to Oregon and back and was working at the Enid News & Eagle, I had the opportunity to be involved with Main Street and see how hard Lindy worked to provide support and resources and partnerships with Enid businesses, especially downtown, and draw tourism, new commerce, bring new events and grow existing ones.  It is quite something to behold.  I was able to assist in organizing events for First Fridays and Enid Lights Up the Plains, along with various other things. I was humbled to receive the Workhorse Award in 2010.

Long story short, when I heard Lindy was retiring, I was very much interested in the position and threw my name in the hat.  It seems that is not to be, but through this journey I was overwhelmed by the support of some dear friends (I don’t have enough time in the day to list the wonderful people who support me), and, of course, my family, both by birth and by marriage.  I count myself extremely blessed to have you all in my life.  I would like to say that I LOVE that I have a job where I can help my daddy and have my sweet girl with me most of the day.  This was honestly one of the few, if not the only, position I would have considered, other than the one I hold now.

I do want to take this opportunity to wish the new director, whoever he or she may be, the best of luck.  I hope this person will be able to continue the wonderful legacy Lindy is leaving.  I accompanied Lindy this year to the State Main Street Day at the Oklahoma State Capitol and it is incredible how supportive all of the organizations are of one another, regardless of size or budget or staff.

I now have to figure out what to do with all this self-confidence and civic responsibility I’ve got lying around…