The new gig

Yesterday I was at a roundtable discussion about creating a Food Charter for Kingston - my first public/serious event in my new job. As the meeting drew to a close and people started to disperse, a woman rushed up to me.
"Are you married to Scott??"

There is an ongoing joke in my family (since my brother's football career) that our last name is nothing more than an indication that we are indeed related to THE Scott Valberg, Wide Receiver, Vanier Cup Champion, Gunslinger. My parents get it all the time - "Are you Scott Valberg's Mom?!" "You must be Scott Valberg's Dad" and I have had it happen to me here and there. But this is the first time that has anyone mistaken me for his wife.

My new job couldn't have come at a more perfect time - at the end of a year spent studying and growing food. I am the Community Kitchen Coordinator for Loving Spoonful - a nonprofit that is dedicated to increasing access to healthy food for everyone in Kingston. It's kind of like a food bank, but dealing mainly with perishable foods: fruits, vegetables and donations from grocery stores, restaurants and farmers in Kingston. My role is to bring education into the mix, to deliver cooking workshops and to organize workbees to process the massive amount of donations that we get over the growing season.

So back to yesterday where I am faced with a woman who has recognized my last name and made a shot in the dark that Scott and I have tied the knot. I swallow my instinct to joke so as to appear professional and normal (arguably my biggest achievement in my job so far). "Oh no, he's my brother!"

And here I am, back in the town where I grew up.