Well, as I’ve said many, many times this weekend, there are no words… meaning, of course, there are no words big enough, eloquent enough or clear enough to express all the FEELS I am feeling (and have been feeling) that are still very present in this moment and that have been so present all through this retirement celebration weekend! And of course, if you were at our Sunday Celebration yesterday, or watched it online, you were clearly exposed to probably more of my tears than I’ve ever shared before!
It was so delightful to have so many of Kenn’s and my ministerial friends from all over North America, as well as so many friends and members of our community from the past and the present to help us celebrate these past thirty years.
I love that several people told me that they hadn’t been attending the Centre so much lately as they had before the pandemic, and now they wonder why they fell out of the habit of something that felt so life giving! Someone else told me they felt so renewed and refreshed, that it was like being at a week-long New Thought conference. There are no sweeter words than that for me!
As you might imagine, I can never, ever express the gratitude I have for the extraordinary event team who did so, so, so, so, very much to make all the different parts of this weekend work together. We were so proud to offer stellar service to all our guests: help with airport transfers, hotel support, snacks, receptions, our open house, breakfast noshes, and of course the gala party itself with great food, speakers, ceremony, skits and everything, everything. I don’t think a single thing was missed! And, oh my gosh, the music and dancing! Dr. Pat Campbell, my minister friend from Calgary, told me she has CSL Kelowna dance envy! My daughter told me she’d never seen a dance floor so full from beginning to end. Of course, that’s all thanks to our own beautiful Rev. Barb Samuel – Sista B and her amazing Boyz!
I am also so profoundly grateful for the events of the Gala evening itself. I think unless you’ve been involved in event planning, it’s hard to wrap your head around the very many details that need to be planned and executed to facilitate everything that needs to come together.
I give a huge, huge acknowledgement to our self-named, most amazing Gala committee, the Gala Chicks: Dr. Nadene Rogers, Julia Mattis, Ann Lotwin, Rev. Corinne Crockett, Kelsey Corbett, Diane Hockey and Annie Zed – if I may say, the best team ever, and each clearly working in their own zone of genius. If ever you’re in need of an events team – I couldn’t recommend them more highly! (And if I may say, as Dr. Pat Campbell mentioned in her toast to me on Friday night, I’ve been on more than a few events teams in my career and this one was stellar – no detail was left unattended.)
And so, here is what is next. Most of you know we’ve got several special Sunday services coming up, including Soul Food Sunday this coming weekend on December 4th, a special blessing ceremony service on December 11th; our annual Celebration of Light on December 18th at 10:30am at the Rotary Centre for the Arts, featuring Dr. Kenn; and our New Year’s release and intention service on January 1st. After that… happy cruise trails for Kenn and myself, at least for a little while!
I have so much gratitude… I have no words; only love.
Love and gratitude to all and for all,
Dr. Deborah
PS: Annie Zed has asked me if any of you have some good photos from the Gala weekend to send them to her at annie@cslkelowna.org so that we can include some of them in our next posts. (and I’d love if you CC me as well at revgord@shaw.ca).
If you missed yesterday’s service, titled To Boldly Go Towards the New Day / Where do we go from here? you can watch the replay and other past services on the CSLK YouTube channel.
MIND-FULL MOMENT
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
— Melody Beattie
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