When we were young SA officers I would get the statement telling me what our monthly pension would be. I didn’t really understand those statements in those days and I remember being shocked and worried that I would get $104/month! Yikes. I later realized that each year that number increased based on years of service, age and salary.

What else I remember was the date I would be retiring. January 1, 2022! It seemed such a far away date. And suddenly we were there!

So this was, to get to the point, a year of transition as our retirement date moved to August 1, 2023 and we literally drove off into the sunset leaving Toronto for Ottawa and then Pennsylvania before launching home through Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, South and North Dakota and onward to Edmonton. About 4800 km one way – a round trip close to 10K km.

January saw us take in two retreats, the Alberta NT division and then over to the Prairies divisional retreat where we were the guests. I had a quick flight over to Vancouver for an interesting meeting with the board and some faculty at TWU.

February was our 44th wedding anniversary and we travelled to Montreal for meetings before turning south and spending some time with friends Stan and Debbie in their lovely Florida home. We also got to visit with my sister Leanne and Andrew – glad to see Jacob and Hannah and Silas on that trip too.

March was a quieter month without travel to Toronto and that felt great! The monthly commute was getting hard to keep up. Some of you will not know that we were spending between 7 and 19 days a month in Toronto living in a very small condo! So having the month at home was wonderful and the work on the house was continuing!

April was Easter and for once we weren’t leading services somewhere in the country – the territory announced that Keith would follow me into the role as TSBA. So that’s settled….

May saw the gardens awakening and the reminder that the earth, at least in this part of the world was preparing to grow again after a winter rest. There is just something wonderful about this time of the year. We also were able to be in Ottawa for meetings with government and get a visit with Jason and the kids in too!!

JUNE – wow, it’s here! This was a busy month and we would be driving to Ontario for meetings and the Congress before we stepped out of our roles and entered honourable retirement. I couldn’t get my head around that then…and even some days now.

But first a very exciting event – REBOOT.

This may have been one of the best events I had attended in connection with my role. The team was amazing, the presenters top notch and the connections incredible. Staff, vendors, guests… it had it all.

And the team gave me a real send-off.

I can’t leave this part without mentioning the rest of my team. Paul, Ken, Jonathan, Jeff, Brad, Bryan, Ted and Alison were wonderful – committed, talented, kind, effective and friends. They took Wendy and I out of dinner in June and gave us some wonderful gifts. I miss them deeply.

Then the Congress which Wendy had been part of planning for months! She had some real impact here though the team was large, she played a very important role. And also a small reception for us at THQ…with family!!

And the Congress…

July was wonderful… It started with a visit with Jason and the kids and then we were off to Pennsylvania, one of our favourite areas. If I have one regret in living in the west it is the distance from this part of the USA. As I’ve said to Wendy we need to find the western version of this!

Our route home took us south towards Quilt Town USA, Hamiton Missouri. A small town it holds the Missouri Star Quilt Company and I’ve written about it before but this year we happened to bump into Misty – one of their social media stars. From there north to Edmonton via Minot ND.

August was a time to resettle. We made a trip to Rick and Alison’s place in BC but had to retreat when the fires got close! We’ll be back. August felt like vacation and we continued to make progress on several fronts in terms of setting up our investments, working on the hosue and finally finding a family doctor.

September had a strange week in that I returned to THQ and Toronto to take part in the orientation of the new BUC President. I also had a chance to connect with many friends – but then it was back home and the struggle to settle. I must say Wendy had far less trouble being “retired”. She was glad for it and happy to be around family more.

October officially marked our retirement with Floyd and Tracey coming to Edmonton to present our retirement certificates and to publicly acknowledge our 40 years of service. Jason also came to be with us and we were glad to have him with our Edmonton family here. Very surreal. Our friends Brad and Sue also made a visit – we were glad to have so many people around!

November marked work on the kitchen and we were thrilled that Philip was able to take on this large project! We cannot express enough our appreciation for him, Amanda and the time they have given to help us have a lovely home.

December is as it usually is, filled with decor, family, food and holiday. And it was also a reminder of how very blessed we are. We are blessed! Very blessed.

As 2023 rolls to an end we look forward to 2024 and to some travel, celebrating Mom’s 90th birthday and of course finding ourselves settling further into this chapter of life.