IN THE END

Greetings, fellow riders on the dusty trail.

August has headed off into the sunset and summer is soon to follow. Here's hoping the memories they have left behind are good ones.

Our meeting on the 21st was short but sweet. There were six in our circle around the old fire ring.

Despite the pressures of starting a new job last month, Rich Barley has been working to define his role as our president.
He began our meeting by handing out an agenda.

After a mundane single-paragraph treasurer's report, we got to the happy task of welcoming Ralph Bieber as our new vice-president.

Rich explained that Ralph was appointed, rather than elected, to fill the spot left empty after Rich got railroaded into being our new president. (Just think of all the money that was saved by not having to run a campaign.)

Rich also handed out copies of a set of operational by-laws to be used until we can establish a more permanent version. If you would like a copy, let us know. I have also posted them on our blog, under the list of officers.

Another topic for discussion was the formation of committees that will be needing volunteers. Think about whether you would like to be involved in working on our website, finding a speaker for one of our meetings, helping with the writing contest, or helping to write our permanent by-laws.

After making it through the business end of our written agenda, Carol Causey (immediate past-president) surprised us all with the pinkest and most brightly orange-colored cupcakes I have ever seen. Then, she forced everyone to sing Happy Birthday to me.

Yes, it's true, I am a whole year older. But it's even more remarkable that it has been a whole year now since the birth of our website.

It's actually funny how much I have in common with our website:
- Sometimes, I feel neglected.
- I often question the purpose of my existence.
- And, if I just sit there and don't change anything
and never contribute anything to the world
around me, I will get really old, really fast.

The CPWO officers have been making an effort to get together every month between meetings. Our last officers meeting inspired an idea which could also become a part of our website.

Consider the possibilities of a continuing saga written through the collaboration of a cohort of coauthors. Carol and I each read our contribution to the collection so far.

Amber Buck brought a story to share with us. It followed the adventures of a girl and her imagination on a quest to escape the heat of summer. Amber also shared with us a copy of her first official letter of rejection.

We all gave Amber a literary cheer and told her to eat another cupcake and get right back out there.

Mike Bender was also back among us. He read the intro to a rather intriguing novel about a young man of mysterious origins.

Rich gave us each a copy of the beginnings of a story about a dragon and a group of children. The rest of the tale will be told by the readers, in response to his question, "If you were a dragon, what would you do?"

Our meeting came to its conclusion with plenty of time left on the clock. But, instead of running off to grab that extra hour of summer, our little group seemed to linger.

The conversation flowed between us like a meandering river as we each reminisced about such things as where we were on September 11, 2001. I guess it was on our minds.

In the end, it just goes to show you that with or without an agenda, we are just good folks talking about the stuff that makes us all the same . . . in the end.

I hope, by now, you have remembered to flip your calendar. Pencil us in for the 18th this month. And if you haven't registered to vote yet, what are you waiting for?

Your voice matters. -Rita