Today was the election for the executive committee. This year, 32 out of 34 neighbor representatives came to vote. I am amazed at this high percentage.

It was strange for me to take on Holger's job of delivering the short speech for voting for good character and capacity for governance. I felt too young for this job. But nobody else seemed to mind. I mentioned Holger's work for the TDG in part of my speech. I almost broke down.

No longer being a neighborhood representative, Pete Williams was no longer eligible to be voted for in this election. So another representative from the Northwest is forthcoming. Lenora Crane was the representative from the Northwest with the most votes. She had served on the executive committees for North Riverbend and Angle Riverbend. She will be of valuable service again.

Veronica Sanchez didn't make the executive committee this year either. But she is still a neighborhood representative and likely to be called to serve on a committee or two. Her experience on the executive committee will be useful on those committees.

So we had two new faces on the executive committee this year. Fresh blood with old guard. Interesting these TDG elections are.

At the end of my second meeting of Battenor Ecological Society, Marty Tighe told me that the board of the local women's shelter was looking for a new member-and asked if I would be interested.

"Let me attend a meeting first."

The first meeting was very different from Jane's group. I was a bit overwhelmed with spousal abuse occurring in Riverbend, enough to justify an eight-unit shelter and an annual budget of $750,000.  Several board members worked with agencies that had dealings with the shelter. Marty was the manager of a social agency looking after disabled people. There was also one police officer on the board.

There were no foreordained decisions. Issues were discussed quite fully with alternatives offered and their pros and cons. Consensus was usually attained. But a couple of motions required a vote. And the losing sides did not dwell too long on their loss. The board made a lot of decisions in the two hours.  

As the meeting came to a close, the chair asked me, "Thelma, would you like to join our board?"

I said, "I have little experience with boards or with spousal abuse. My occupation doesn't involve this kind of work."

"We need different perspectives to get full picture. You've been highly recommended."

I wondered if Stacey had something to do with this: "I'm not sure what if have to offer. But if you people are willing to have me, I'm willing to learn."

A motion was made to appoint me to the board to fill a vacant position. It passed unanimously. This was going to lead to some interesting life experiences.