From last April to the end of March, 186 babies were born and supported at Sechelt Hospital.
In a few weeks’ time (fingers crossed), amidst a global pandemic, extreme heat and a drought on the horizon, my wife and I will be adding to this year’s tally, along with the other summer babies born just in time to experience the threat of forest fires in their own backyard.
Ah, 2021, what a time to bring new blood into the world.
I’ll be taking about a year off from work to adjust to life with a tagalong, and for the first time since arriving here in 2017, will be taking in the Sunshine Coast as a reader of the news rather than reporter of it.
Of course, I plan to monitor my inbox and keep my phone close at hand in case any tips should squeak over the transom. That said, my final week is next, so if those confidential documents have been sitting around gathering dust in a manila envelope, please send now before a whole new realm of leaks command my attention.
While I’m positively bursting with excitement at the prospect of parenting, letting go of being in the know (or at least pretending to) for the next 365 won’t be easy.
Believe it or not I’ve yet to grow cynical about the “vaguely stenographic” job of reporting on local government, as a former colleague once put it.
Unlike the Coast’s water supply, a firehose of news is all but guaranteed over the next few months. For starters, Justin Trudeau’s grand chin reveal this week is a sure sign of writ drop, and not every riding gets a surprise celebrity candidate in the opening inning of an election. Speaking of which, local elections are practically around the corner. Oh, and the census is coming.
Yes, readers, you’re in for a busy year indeed. (And yes, we have a replacement reporter waiting in the wings.)
The one thing I ask while I’m away is that you keep reading the small but mighty Coast Reporter. Please, keep sharing our stories online and at all those in-person places we can now go to gather. And while you’re at it, and if you don’t mind, please, keep writing letters to the editor. Keep calling in pitches, breaking news and events. The Facebook comments can go. Those can burn in hell. But for the love of god, please, keep the news alive.
There’s a million reasons why local news matters more than ever, but now there’s a new one I want you to get behind.
Please keep this small but mighty newspaper in demand. My future kid’s financial future depends on it.
