Farewell Party

Saturday night Bill and Carol threw us a heartfelt, fantastic party. They were gracious enough to not put a limit on how many people we could invite, as a result about 100 people showed up. They spent a lot of time, thought and energy getting the house ready, in fact, when we got there they were so busy with last minute details, they hadn't taken showers yet! Carol quickly filled me in on what needed to be done and went up to clean up!

Deb, who gave us the gift of designated driver

was helping me when Goldie and Mitch showed up. Goldie quickly saw what needed to be done and jumped right in to help out.

Bill and Carol had decorated the house in a Christmas/Hawaiian theme. As you came into the warmth of the house, an aloha sign greeted everyone at the front door. There were lei's for all and they got really pretty ones for Dan and I. Sean and his wife Jen also brought us some nice ones. The food table had a grass skirt around it and real pineapples for decoration. Outside on the deck (lanai in Hawaiian) was a blow up palm tree with a kiddie pool like base that held ice and beer. Christmas lights were on the lanai as well as in the house, along with a beautiful Christmas tree. The garage was cleaned up and outfitted with a space heater and the staple ping pong table was ready for games. With plenty of food, music (Dan and I made a playlist on our Ipod) and people everywhere, everyone was in high spirits. It was so crowded that it took forever to get from one side of the kitchen to the other! We were humbled by the turn out and a realization sank in that we are leaving behind a lot of good friends. We are so grateful for the people in our lives. Generally you don't know how you impact people but there were so many warm wishes, thoughtful admissions about our relationships, declarations of how we inspire both by living our dream and by the obvious love between us, that we were hit to our core.

In fact Megan brought tears to Dan's eyes as she told him how much he would be missed and what an inspiration he is. She came by me later and told me the same thing. I was struck by two things, how well she picked the words to describe how she felt, what she said was really beautiful (unfortunately, I can't recall it, just the emotion she left me with) and how hard it was for me to accept. I don't feel worthy of all the accolades!

Bill and carol had their daughter Katie design a card for everyone to sign. So much warmth and love, it makes me realize how lucky we have been to have such great people in our lives!

Just beautiful!!