This is Gossamer Joy, the Podcast, Episode 4:

0:00: Her First Mistake

1:33: Leadership to Change

4:53: Open Mind, Open Heart

7:14: Get Uncomfortable

9:53: What Change Does for Your Soul

12:00: Joy in Grands, Worry in Our Small World

14:20: Seems Like a Whole World Away

16:48: Seems Like Yesterday

I met Annette Pernell in May 2018 in Round Rock when she took a seat at the table where I sat with four others at the Texas Municipal League Leadership Academy. We were both council members at the time, and she had made the long drive from Orange, as east as it gets in Texas, and I from Woodcreek, an hour southwest. In that hotel ballroom, one of our first interactions became an indelible lesson, and this podcast was my chance to explore that story.

For the year that followed, Annette and I enjoyed good-natured competition as Leadership Fellows, accumulating TML Institute continuing education credits toward Certified Municipal Official designation. Seventy-two hours were required. I earned over a hundred; she cleared one-fifty, tops that year for TML. On our paths to earning C.M.O.s, Annette and I shared a number of classrooms and event halls. We met each other’s spouses and shared grandchildren tales.

Now, we have completed our terms in public office, and she has moved far from Texas. In her new home, she plans to seek election again, once residency allows. I am less sure, though grateful to have served.

Nonetheless, our friendship and TML lessons remain relevant. We share a remarkably small world. We are more alike than we are different. We both hope our grandchildren will improve on our world with all the courage and commitment that we devote to changing the world our grandparents’ inhabited. In our differences, we see a richness and variety for all our lives.

Annette and I recorded this exchange two months ago, but our conversation is fresh. And the conversation continues, for all of us. Even when it feels uncomfortable. We can be open, and lead. Change is good for the soul.

[Editor’s note: Hurricane Laura made landfall since we spoke. I know Annette joins me in prayers for recovery for the people of the Orange and Lake Charles areas.]

Annette Pernell and Ray Don Tilley, at Texas Municipal League recognition for Certified Municipal Officials, San Marcos, Texas, February 27, 2019 (photo: Diane Tilley)

Members of the 2018-19 class of Certified Municipal Officials, San Marcos, Texas, February 27, 2019 (photo: Diane Tilley)

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