To put it mildly, April, May and June were both the best and worst months of my life.

In April, I was thrown into a provincial election campaign that was 28 consecutive 14-hour work days that culminated in a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

And, oh yeah, an historic victory. The NDP (the folks I work for) went from being the 4th party in the Alberta legislature (with just 4 seats) to winning a majority government with 53 seats, wiping out a government that had been in power for 44 years. Even if you’re not into politics, I’m sure you realize this is a pretty big deal.

Rachel Notley and the NDP won the Alberta Election on May 5. Photo Credit: Dave Cournoyer

Then just a few weeks later, my mom passed away. She had beaten breast cancer 10 years ago, but was diagnosed with Stage 4, metastasized to her bones, in October.

She had just gotten back from Hawaii when the writ dropped in April, and had gone in for some routine tests soon after. Due to a series of unfortunate events (for lack of a better term) she never really left the hospital, and died June 17. It was very sudden and pretty unexpected. As you can imagine my whole family and I are pretty devastated. I have a lot more to say about the amazing person my mom is, but it deserves it's own post (once I'm able to write it).


And then, my old bosses asked me to join their team in the Premier’s Office, and I received a promotion to what is my dream job. There was a lot of restructuring going on at work, so I was very stressed out about my future. It’s a really funny feeling, having a lot of your worries melt away at the drop of a hat.

I say this not only as a recap of where I’ve been since my last post at the end of March, but also as a precursor to my next post about my six-month shopping ban, which technically finished at the end of June. Stay tuned....