Sunshine Coasting

Ross, New Year's 1985

Lee (left) and her best friend Marion with Santa, 1967

... a rare occasion of overnighting on the Coast. Normally I only go to Sechelt for the day, but it was easier to go with Ross and Lee as Ross was returning from a conference in Seattle, and I wanted them to go through their photos so I could scan a bunch for the retirement party. I've asked them for photos on numerous occasions, but this was the only way I could make sure they'd do it! They have thousands of pictures, so it was a bit of a daunting task, but once they started going through the albums and going down memory lane, they were glad they did it.

Looking through their photos, I think, made all of us realize how quickly time passes. Life is such a mixed bag, with the morbid and the joyful and everything in between, all jumbled up together: illness, babies, old flames, holidays, embarrassment, weddings, hard times, it's all there. My employers (husband and wife) both turned 67 recently, and are at a crossroad in their lives: retirement. Both of them have been working for around 50 years each. That's a CENTURY of work! That's why this retirement party is such a big deal for me to plan -- it's the kind of event that combines elements of a wedding, funeral, anniversary party, work party, birthday party... you can get married more than once, you have a birthday every year, work parties at least once a year, but how many times (unless you're Michael Jordan) can you retire??

Ross the hippie, far right, 1974.

This is a classic picture. Ross is the hippie guy on the far right, with the beard, long hair, and Jesus sandals. Apparently, he was back from India or on his way to India, and was living out of his van in his brother Hugh's driveway. The neighbours, not recognizing the van, called the police to report a vagabond!

Ross has a colourful past. His hippie days and sabbaticals to India and roughing it around Europe in the 1960s and early 1970s are fairly common knowledge amongst his closer colleagues, but I'm sure there is plenty I haven't heard yet (although I've heard a lot). One time in late 1999, he was giving me a lift somewhere to meet friends after I'd done some extra work in our office when it was downtown Vancouver. He asked me what I was doing for New Year, since I made it a practice to fly somewhere every year. The previous year I was on the Reeperbahn (red light district) of Hamburg, and the friends I was with there expressed an interest in meeting for the 'millennium' New Year in Goa, India. As soon as I said that, it was like a movie flashback started to play in his head, and he started telling me what kind of a drug hub Goa was... !

Lee dancing with her dad, 1977.

1977: Lee dancing with her dad, who passed away in his sleep December 30 last year in Toronto at the age of 93. Because of his declining health, they had to fly to Toronto 3 times that week. I wasn't sure how Lee would feel looking at some of the photos of her dad, because she was close with both her parents, and she was their only child. Her mother had passed away in the 70s, not long before Ross and Lee were married.

Lee's father was always dancing... (keep dancing, and you'll live to 93!) In practically every picture in their albums, Syd was dancing with someone. The man had an incredible sense of humour, even in his final years. And what a sharp dresser! I'd met Syd once, when he visited in Christmas 1998, my first year to work for ERA. He was 89 years old at the time, and when he walked in, Eliza and I were in awe. Syd was impeccable, in a wool coat to die for, a hat, cane, and great shoes. The man had always lived in downtown Toronto, and was the consummate Torontonian: urbane, active, aware. Eliza and I were so excited to meet him, I think we nearly knocked him over with our enthusiasm. (We both loved his coat!) Syd's zest for life made Lee's visits to him in Toronto the last few years sometimes difficult, and with every passing year we wondered how long Syd would hold on. The man was playing tennis in his 70s, and it was only in the last few years that his ray of light started to flicker. It's been a tough year for Lee since her father died, and even though we can't bring Syd back, I'm going to try to restore some of the photos I picked out from the albums to add to their "Hay-Rogues Gallery" (one of their retirement projects). That way Lee can remember her father not the way he left this mortal coil, but how he was for nearly all of it -- a vibrant, energetic man.

I'm looking forward to the retirement party -- some key people are flying in for the event: Marion, the lady in the Santa Claus photo with Lee and her closest friend. Jacki, the lady who took care of Lee's father in his ailing years, is flying in from Toronto. I've lined up some speakers, people they've known for longer than I've been alive. I've also hired jazz musicians and have been working on the audiovisual portion -- LCD projector and such for presentations. I've got some old photos now and the event is coming together.