August 14, 2008. Western Head. The Great Departure.

Every day another friend or relative bids us farewell. Except now we know them better than we knew them before, so I am so pleased that we went to the effort to put together our 50Th Celebration. The children had a blast, with enough cousins between six and eleven to keep them busy and happy. Now we are down to the hard core of brothers and sisters, who will also be heading home on Saturday. Our plan was to have dinner every night at our house, for all the relatives and friends who had come for our celebation, so even though they were touring around the province, every evening they came to our tent for meeting and greeting and having dinner. Dinner was provided by different caterers, and we used paper plates and plastic cutlery, and the caterers cleaned up the kitchen, so no one, including me, was responsible for any work or clean-up. We kept wine, water and sodas in coolers in the tent, so every one could help themselves. It was a smashing success. Bt the end of the time together, everyone were fast friends. All our efforts were rewarded. One of the eight year old cousins asked her Mother if we were going to have a 51st Celebration next year, but we said no. Perhaps for our 55Th.

Several friends who attended our celebration asked me to write something about the organization of the event, so I will do it tomorrow. I am prone to find errors in the planning, but for this event, most of the details were put into place with no glitches that were noticable. On the Saturday party at White Point, only one bar tender was in place, but after I spoke firmly and sternly, another bartender was brought over and the lines disappeared. Then on the Sunday dinner at our home, the traffic flow for picking up food was awkward, but that also was changed. So I was happy with the organization for the event and with the implementation of the event. But the most important part is that everyone seemed to really enjoy coming. It was worth every effort and expense by Ken and me. Now we have memories for a lifetime...and so do our friends and relatives.