| A Toast To Our Family & Friends |
Our Friendship Profile:
We'd like to take a few minutes to talk a little about Friendships. Ron and I began to reflect on this and wondered how we selected our friends or how they selected us. We attempted to see if we could come up with a FRIENDSHIP PROFILE of who exactly are friends were.
During the evening of our Anniversary Party we invited the following groups of people to stand up -
Ron, John Dickie, Dane Pearce, Joe Edl, Nick Granato, Jim McEwen, Sandy Kenyon: These are the individuals who don't glaze over when Ron describes what he does for a living, or discusses the latest hardware/software problems he has experienced with his pc. They are made up of people in the IT industry, engineers or people who have to deal with engineers on a day-to-day basis. View The Techies
Roger Hamilton, Tony Granato, Val Mullins, Doug Ardley, Alan Butler, Gert Granato, Denis Haley, Chris Paine, Helen Butler, Doreen Paine, George Hurlihey: These are the people within our circle of friends who all our capable of playing a pretty darn good game of golf. The numbers in this category are pretty staggering, especially considering the fact that neither Ron nor I personally play the game. I fondly remember Gert, my mother-in-law's profound observation - She once said "Have you ever listened to golfers discussing their last game. They can spend hour upon hour analyzing how they could have played that last round a golf differently - they analyze their game shot - by shot - by shot - by shot..... by shot. We encouraged them to get together sometime that evening to discuss boogies, birdies, holes-in-one and missed opportunities. View The Golfers
Gert Granato, Helen & Allan Butler and Doreen Paine remained standing, and the following people we asked to join them -
Bruce & Malinda Bellefeuille, Marg Haley, Tina McEwen, Cheryl Edl, Anthony Granato: This group represents something Ron and I place a high value on: the importance of education - Included in this group are the teachers of public schools, sunday schools, and missionary work. Included is an individual who dedicates her time to busing children to school and one who has traveled the world to teach. Throw in one Chairman of the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal for good measure and it's a pretty impressive group considering Donna just barely scraped through high school with D's in Math. View The Educaters
When Ron and I looked over the list of our friends there was another Group that shared a common characteristic; hereinafter to be referred to as, The Bankers!! We called upon -
Linda Clarke, Sheila MacDonald, Roger Hamilton, Val Mullins, Cathy Benoit, Doreen Ramsay: It wasn't surprising, considering Donna spent 25 years with the Royal Bank and continues to do some part-time contract work with them. But it was curious how a former Bank of Montreal employee snuck into the mix. However; for all the financial advice we could have received from this group, not one of them ever taught us how to make a Million Dollars!
But here's where this gets interesting. If we asked these same people who would consider themselves to know their way around a casino, all would probably remain standing except for Val and Roger. (Side Note: those two individuals quickly and safely took their seats). There you have it… out of 6 bankers, 4 would have to admit that they are also gamblers. Now how spooky is that combination!!!
Their slogan has got to either be -
"We Bank on Winning" or "We Count on the Money."
Now that we had established from the last group that our gambling crowd included Linda Clarke, Sheila MacDonald, Cathy Benoit, Doreen Ramsay, we further called upon the following people to join them and they stood up to be counted -
Sandy Kenyon, Peter Ramsay, Linda Vipond and George Hurlihey: They are the people who Ron and Donna can call at 2 a.m. with the cryptic message - "p'ssst...... We're off to Flamborough. Meet you at "Let It Ride" two banks over from "Blazing 7's."
Before Linda Clarke, Cathy Benoit and Linda Vipond sat back down, Donna had the opportunity to say thank you to these three ladies -
Together they share one of her passions which doesn't seem to fit into any other category. They dare to not let public opinion sway their heartfelt enjoyment of enduring music. These are Donna's Barry Manilow concert buddies.
Ron and I appear to have a certain fondness for East Coasters. The following individuals represent our Maritime connection -
Peter Ramsay, Helen Butler, Bruce and Malinda Bellefeuille, Denis Haley, Tina McEwen, John and Margot Dickie, Mary Granato: Some were born and raised there and others chose the Atlantic Provinces as their home for a number of years. There really isn't a quiet one among them. They all appear to have the gift of conversation and make friends easily wherever they go.
We learned how to pronounce Miramichi and that it was a river not a cherry; however as mainlanders, we are still trying to master the proper accent and annunciation of the fisherman's slang for "Back to the Bay B'ys."
Which explains why we didn't break out in a rollicking rendition of:-
"I'se the b'y that builds the boat,
And I'se the b'y that sails her,
I'se the b'y that catches the fish
And brings 'em home ta Lizer"
We are extremely proud to recognize our nurturers -
Dorothy, Gert, Roger and Tony: As our Parents, their job description would probably read:
"Long term, team players needed for challenging permanent work in an, often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings, weekends and frequent 24-hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to camping sites and the cottage on rainy weekends as well as endless sports tournaments in far away cities.
As parents, you
- Had to be willing to be indispensable one minute and an embarrassment the next
and (we can only imagine),
- Had be willing to bite your tongue repeatedly
Even though Ron never got to Frontier Town and while Donna had a christmas present taken away from her once because she was caught lying, we learned by way of your example the joys that can be shared in marriage. We thank the four of you for your love, support and advice throughout the years.
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In Conclusion:
So what did we discover as we tried to come up with our Friendship Profile? Yes, a lot of you do share common characteristics, hobbies, and professions. But it didn't begin to take into account the countless individual laughs we've had, the cherished memories of shared experiences, or the gratitude we've felt when you provided a strong shoulder, when needed.
If we mentioned the word Naugahyde, "Uncle Sammy's farm", if we began chanting "fudge brownie, fudge brownie" or mentioned the phrase "its ALL about ME" - we can count on the fact that somebody in the room would be smiling. Each one of you is uniquely special to us and we are so grateful for your friendships.
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