The Party

A recent weekend marked two significant events for my wife Sue and I. October 16th was my sixty-first birthday and of more personal signifigance, October 17th marked our fortieth wedding anniversary.

Overall, it's been an up and down year. My son James married his lovely wife Catherine on October 17th of last year. 8 months later, Sue was diagnosed with leukodystrophy, a skewed cousin of MS. Our dearest friend's son-in-law, Dave Taylor, died suddenly and tragically of an anuerism a mere 13 months after his marriage. We "rediscovered" two couples we'd been friends with over 30 years ago and found little had changed; we still adored them! While these happenstances are totally unrelated, they're a direct reflection of the incredulous joy and profound sadness possible within a minimal timeframe.

I considered our 40th anniversary special and I wanted to find something significantly romantic and enjoyable for both of us. Our eventual choice turned out to be one of our best ideas, ever.

We decided to rent a private room at Tom Goodchild's Moose Factory restaurant and treat a number of friends to dinner. When it came to choosing folks to attend, good luck won out over good planning. Quite by accident, the couples we asked represented every phase of our forty years together. We were a little worried as none of these couples knew each other but thankfully, our concerns were groundless. Everyone came together like they'd been friends forever, to our great delight.

In no particular order, the guest list:

Bryan Bury and Terry Nuthall:
Our closest friends over the past 15 years, we first met Bryan and Terry in a local Mill Woods bar, of all places. I'd never have imagined the magnitude of our eventual friendship.

As the years went by we developed a number of common interests. For example; Bryan and I like to golf, Sue and Terry like to drink beer and gossip. Eventually we became close with one another's immediate and extended families. After going on three wonderful vacations together, we realized we'd developed a lifelong relationship. Now we're as close as family and I've no idea how we'd survive without them. 

Bruce & Lynn Hamilton:

These two are simply terrific people, individually and as a couple.

Bruce is my youngest brother, mentor, confidant and best friend, all in one. Lynn is just about the sweetest person you'll ever know. My very first impression of her was, "C'mon, no-one's that nice." Within 5 minutes I knew I was wrong. As we came to know her family, it wasn't difficult to figure out the source of Lynn's lovely demeanour. Her entire family has the same quality!

Every so often you'll meet a couple and think, "They are perfect together!", only to learn later their so-called allegiance is contrived as a means of impressing people. Bruce and Lynn were hand picked by fate to be together and their "positive vibe" is as fresh and strong today as it was at the onset.

Bruce is composed, wickedly funny and intelligent. He also has excellent taste in women, obviously. Lynn is definitely a "girly-girl" but while her humour is gentle and tasteful, there's also a touch of zaniness, something you definitely don't see coming.

Bruce and Lynn present a sense of whimsical fun to any situation and once you've met them, the pleasantly indelible impression they leave stays with you always. They're a true joy.

Steve and Elaine Roebuck:

Steve and I worked together at TELUS and while we didn't do a lot of socializing outside the workplace, our pressure packed work environment somehow helped us to get along, not that we needed incentive.

One of the more effective ways to deal with pressure is to maintain a combination of professionalism and levity whenever possible; something Steve and I seemed to pick up on instinctively. Working with Steve was like spending every work day with a best buddy. I admired his abilities as a technician and leader while his self-effacing humour and sense of dedication to task made him one of the most interesting guys I've ever worked with.

Once I left TELUS, things got a little crazy and Steve and I lost touch. Years later we reacquainted through Facebook and eventually, we met Steve and his wife of 2 years, Elaine, for breakfast. Suffice to say, Steve got the marriage thing right. These two are a walking, talking contradiction of the axiom "opposites attract". Both are bubbly, cheery and they obviously adore one other . They couldn't be any less opposite yet meeting them is a little like reuniting with your first love, only with a lot more laughs!

Brooke and Lucy Rothwell:

These folks have been our next door neighbors for over 20 years and our friends for nearly as long.

The first two times I met Brooke, I knocked on his door to ask him for a ride back to a bar where I'd left my car the night before! Great first impression, right? As it turns out, the love of a cold beer was merely one of several things we had in common. While we often differ in opinion, we've a mutual love affair with just about anything involving sports. One major difference; Brooke happens to be a gifted athlete and I'm, well, not. Still, over time we've developed a rather complete sports ideology; a situation we like to explore at every opportunity.

Lucy is a rare, genuinely kind spirit. To me, it's as if she subconsiously assigns others a 10 out of 10 rating from the beginning, then gives them every possible opportunity to maintain that rating. It's very difficult to alienate Lucy, though God knows why you'd want to! Lucy and Sue are avid gardeners with a mutual appreciation for plants and flowers while Lucy and I prefer to simply gab over the back fence! Given either instance, Lucy easily ranks as our best neighbor ever.

Lucy and Brooke have two grown sons, Jamie and Joel. Both are outstanding young men and Sue and I have known them since their pre-school years. As kids, these two were real chatterboxes and we always knew a little more about the Rothwell family than either Brooke or Lucy may have appreciated!

Jim and Michelle Short:

Jim and I grew up together in the Avonmore area of south Edmonton. He was the neighbourhood jock, far and away the best athlete in the area but you'd never know it from the way he carried himself. The ultimate nice guy, Jim didn't have an enemy in the world and I still consider him one of my very best friends.

As often happens, time and circumstances interrupted our friendship but the death of my Mom brought us together again and over the past few years, we've re-established our relationship. It turns out the very things that made us friends so long ago remain unchanged.

Jim and Michelle have been together roughly 10 years but just as I'd expect, Michelle is one terrific lady, full of energy and enthusiasm, the perfect counterpoint for Jim, and Sue and I genuinely enjoy their company! 


So that, my friends, was our celebration. I've kept everyone's contact information handy in the almost certain event we repeat the party 10, then 20 years from now!