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DAVID BENTLEY'S WEEKLY COLUMN |
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THANK GOODNESS FOR BUTTERFLIES
A stroll around town last week proved it -- change is everywhere! The rock at Churchill Square is gone. The old lumber company building, formerly a dairy, has vanished. A hill near the port is being excavated for construction. Work on the new ferry terminal building continues. The newly remodeled Memorial Park has been dedicated. And those are just the most obvious changes I detected. King's Market is doing a major renovation. Big Daddy's closed, and Gourmet's Galley moved into its place. The space vacated by Gourmet's Galley was filled by Boardwalk Books. The Hot Shop moved in where Just Desserts had been, and Dos Diablos will replace Amigos. The Windjammer Barber Shop is now in Jerri's Mall with a deli rumored to be taking over the former barber shop. There's a new restaurant where Basil's was, and a drive-thru espresso shop built on another corner lot. A music store and performance space squeezed in between Radio Shack and Spirit Tree. The pet store moved across town. Even the parking lot at the Mullis Community Senior Center was expanded with a designated entrance and exit. Charter Rule replaced the Commissioner form of county government. The elections office moved across the street from the courthouse. The county's human resources director has gone to Seattle, and the library's director will soon be going to Whistler. Meanwhile, a new county administrator and a new high school principal have been hired. A new child care center opened for business while another one changed ownership. A bilingual physician came to the island, and school communications are written in both English and Spanish. It's not easy to let go of the familiar and embrace the new. However growth occurs when we are forced to move outside our comfort zone. As one unknown sage put it, "If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies."
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SAN JUAN ISLANDER © 2008 |
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