President's Passion
!Tradition! Tradition! Simple and yet strong opening lyrical lines from the 1964 Broadway hit "Fiddler on the Roof". Tevye, the Dairyman of five daughters sings his dilemma of their betrothal: For love, money, culture or religion?
Fortunately for me, and us, the choices are much more compelling, and far less taxing. I want to let disclose just how our tradition, on it's TWENTY-THIRD ANNIVERSARY this past weekend has shaped and enhanced my Sunrise commitment and fellowship. I am also inviting you to share from your Sunrise memory bank, morels of nourishment gained over these two plus decades.
First of all, a hearty THANK YOU to DEL RABY!
Del and his late wife Harriet planned the menu and cooked the 1996 meal themselves. Randy Seelye was Sunrise President that year and recalled some interesting directional detours, as did Nancy Aita.
While the logistics of our Progressive Dinner have remained in Del's shoulder and desktop cpu's, the meal meets the table at multiple venues: Your and my home. This shuffling of hospitality has given me greater dimensions of appreciation for our diversity of geography, avocation, vocation and breadth of community engagement to name of few.
I am reminded as well of the punctuated pace our Thursday meetings possess. We cover a lot of territory from 7:30 to 8:30, and without opportunities to explore our interests in more detail, with less time stricture, our creative hybridization would be reduced.
So, here's to our TWENTY-FOURTH PROGRESSIVE DINNER: Cheers to Del, this year's hosting members ~ Jennifer Adams, Peter & Mary Banks, Cindy Gillespie and Bill Bailey, Steve and Laura Herron, Rob and Betsy Sanville, Steve and Georgia Worthen, Dave and Shauna Lorenzen, Penny Millar and Paul O'Rear, Rich and Betsy Randolph, Randy Seelye and Katherine Anderson, Jon and Terry Stark, Steve and Jaqui Zwick, Peggy our Caterer, Franchetti's for desserts, and ALL of you who were fortunate to find continuing expression of Goodwill, Better Friendships, creative conversation, and above everything, our inspiring appetite for sustaining service.
In order to supplement my perspective, this coming Thursday I will invite your retrospectives and offer a little something for adding flavor to our tradition, in the best sense of the word. Let me know before then if you have a vignette you want to share.
