Received the surprise of my life on Saturday, June 5 - family and friends threw me a birthday party. You all know how nosey I am, so, I don't know how they managed to hide it, especially when it took weeks to plan.

Even my granddaughter, who is seven years old, didn't let the cat out of the bag. It was beautiful, my cake was decorated like the Mackenzie Highway, with little toy trucks running down on "my highway!" Must thank the Heritage Hotel for the cake, and my knees started to shake when friends started to recall stories about the hectic early days of the Delta and Inuvik and of course "the Rec Hall." Those early days when I was full of ideas and bossy as hell.

There were lots of laughs, especially when Frank Pope recalled his job at the reindeer station, about 20 miles from Inuvik when he was a 20-year-old, with the Hudson's Bay Company, driving a dog team to Inuvik. For some fun he would attend our famous dances at the Rec Hall. Jim Brown really surprised me when he said, "I met Cece in the early days of Inuvik, when I was a 17-year-old punk, long hair and all, rented an apartment one night, big party, 3 a.m., big knock on door, we thought, oh boy, more girls coming in - but, there was Cece, shaking fingers, saying, you are out tomorrow morning!

And, then, Danny McNeely recalling the early days of my political life as chief - when I pitched a tipi on parliament in Ottawa, to make a point.

I think Danny helped me pitch the tent? And Chris Buist, president of our Chamber of Commerce mentioned that, at their last meeting, they made me "lifetime member." It's nice to be an elder. You get a lot of freebies!

I told them my daughter-in-law, Tanya, bought me a little plaque you stick on your fridge, reads "I intend to live forever, so far so good!"

Anyhow, the party was a lovely surprise, we danced till 3 a.m.! And I know I will have many more birthdays. The Lord gave me good genes! So the doctors say. My attitude is, life is so beautiful, there is so much more to see and to do, to enjoy and always look on the bright side, laugh a lot, it is good for your health! I know it is tough sometimes, but when I feel sorry for myself, I think about those pool children and women in those third-world countries, then you realize how lucky we are in our country. Anyway, enough preaching because life goes on.

News/North was really informative this last week, with three inserts on all the businesses going on in the NWT and Nunavut. Very interesting, all you young people should go through the whole paper, digest it, and see where you can fit in; opportunities to train, I know education is holding back many young people, but there are places where you can seek help, to upgrade, etc. My big worry and problem is we must do something to reach the young adults, especially at the grassroots!

I would like to see a pilot project in Sahtu region, there are five communities. Hire two women in each town to liaise between education, health, justice. In education they can help youth by directing where and how to seek upgrading; where and how to fill out the many forms for resumes; who and where to apply for this and that; or for moral support, etc. etc. And in health, many grassroots people have problems with the sophisticated lingo or language of medicine, check elders pills, etc. In justice, again the language of justice must be explained - we must do some soul searching in the small communities, so many illiterate people and many with criminal records.

Why are young people vandalizing and burning buildings down or not supporting the few of their own people who succeed in life? Why are young people committing suicide? The government is not the only one to blame; parents and leaders are also to blame. There is a solution, but, no one has the guts to face it. I have my idea of how we can do it. I said it many times. It is maybe the unorthodox way, but the only way! We need a diverse complex office and hang out on main street, where young people feel welcome to come in, have coffee and doughnuts and to talk. Am I dreaming?