Third Year Lucky?

This Saturday marks the third anniversary of our moving to Naperville. Thanks to this blog I don't have to write a sentimental recap of what's happened to me since then; if you have a few hours you can read the previous 886 entries yourself.
My main focus here, apart from living happily after and providing a wonderful holiday location for our kids, has always been my career. As someone with workaholic tendencies everything I have done here has always been directed at one thing - gaining paid employment.
Anyone else would do this by going to an unemployment agency, answering ads on the Internet or in papers, asking friends etc. I, of course, like to be different. I've had to reinvent myself and seem to have got caught up in an endless quest to let every individual person living in Naperville know who I am. I've done everything apart from knocking on doors to introduce myself. My name is, or has been at some time, in every local publication we have here. I volunteer for various local organizations and spend any free time I have promoting myself all over the Internet.
I've attended countless events,been interviewed on the radio, written thousands of words about local people, probably even more about myself and even written a musical.
Alas I forgot to wish for fame along with the fortune. Don't tell Grumpy, but I fear I'm always going to be a starving artist, which is the only way I'm going to lose any weight here in the land of the fat and home of the burger.
As you might imagine, sometimes the whole quest overwhelms me. Then a complete stranger will tell me how much they enjoy my work and it spurs me on. Tomorrow, the day before our anniversary, is actually destined to be the most fun work wise I have had here.
I'm running around all day after Evan Lysacek as the city throws him a party to celebrate his Olympic win. This is the kind of thing reporters dream of, especially local ones tucked away in the heart of the American Mid West. Finally an attachment to a national story, especially now he's appearing in Dancing With The Stars.
Knowing my luck, I'll be the only person in the entire city who doesn't actually get to speak to him. But what I have realized is this:
I'm going to be attending three major Naperville events tomorrow. All the movers and shakers will be there, I know them all and they know me. This isn't because I spend my days in a newspaper office and they know where to find me if they want publicity. It's because I've made it my business to find these people, let them know who I am and most often befriend them. Not because I want their local 'celebrity' to rub off on me, but because I have this bizarre calling that means I cannot stop trying to get under the skin of this place.
Everything about Naperville fascinates me, apart from possibly Ogden Avenue. As regular readers will know (often from reading between the lines) I obviously don't agree with everything that happens here. But you can't like everything.I try to be tactful but however much you reinvent yourself, sometimes that cynical old journalist in me will escape.
Most of what happens here is great, and tomorrow should be an extreme example of that. Naperville is genuine in its love for its home town Olympic hero. Our cartoon character mayor is going to present him with the key to the city. I don't know if the municipal band will be playing, but if they aren't, they certainly should.There should be colourful flags decorating the streets and free popcorn for all!
Of course I not so secretly hope one day they'll put on a special day for me, but I think I'll have to do more than a bit of writing for that particular honour! But if you'd have told me three years ago that tomorrow I would be covering a major event for not one, but two major local publications I wouldn't have believed it. I'd have been disappointed that I wasn't covering it for the Chicago Tribune. Still, you have to start somewhere...