December seems to have flown by. With only five days until Christmas (we are immersed in panicked gift buying time) and Hanukkah having started on Sunday, we are officially deep into the holiday season. This is one of the busiest times of year for everyone and I hope you all get a chance to spend the last few weeks of the year spending time with family, friends, and loved ones.
As mayor, this time of the year is always wonderfully busy. There are tree and menorah lightings, holiday parties, community gatherings and events to commemorate and honor residents, and of course, spending time with my family and loved ones. I don’t often write about my family because I believe strongly in keeping my personal life and public life separate (as much as possible). However, it is important for me to acknowledge the reality that I cannot be at all the public events, community organizing, and council meetings without the steadfast support of my wife, Megan.
Quite simply, I could not be the mayor I am without her support.
Year in, year out, she quietly takes on the challenges of our growing family while I am — and we have coined a new verb here — “mayoring.” She makes dinner, changes the boy’s clothes, reads them stories, bathes them, and is up the moment one of them calls for us in the middle of the night — all while managing a full-time job of serving the public as a drug and alcohol counselor who is dedicated to making the world just a little better one person at a time.
On top of all of that, she regularly is on the receiving end of my endless conversations around politics, borough work, and community engagement. She is an absolute rockstar and I am in awe of her ability to manage so much all the time.
Now, I know this isn’t surprising in the least to many of you. Every family has at least one parent that “Superman” the family obligations from time to time. But the acknowledgement and appreciation of that work is important, and I know deeply valued by the ones shouldering that burden.
So, during this crazy, busy, holiday time I wish all of you the very best. To those parents, like my wife, who are the rock of their family, I hope you are able to take a well-deserved break from the hecticness of family and work life and can find that peaceful moment that we all know you have been craving since March. If that moment eludes you this holiday season, as it does many of us for a variety of reasons, know that we all appreciate you and that our community is better because of your super-human efforts that keeps Lansdale moving forward together.
To my wife, I love you so much. Happy holiday’s everyone and I look forward to all that we will do in 2023!
(Mayoral Musings is a weekly op-ed column submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Lansdale Borough Mayor Garry Herbert. The views expressed are his own.)
See also:
Mayoral Musings: Attacks on Local Drag Queen’s Employment Another Example of ‘Otherism’
Mayoral Musings: Municipal 5G – Answering Reader Questions
Mayoral Musings: Municipal 5G is Lansdale’s Way Forward
Mayoral Musings: 2023 Budget Discussion
Mayoral Musings: Remember to Vote on Nov. 8
