By Anne MacNeil, LEAD Department Co-Coordinator
At last, we were over Covid. We could gather again and we had plans. We were going to celebrate Sisters Maureen McGoey and Delia Calis as they ended their term of leadership at SSND Waterdown!
January 9 was the day of the party. We served Dutch almond cake to represent Sister Delia’s heritage. We served popcorn because it's Sister Maureen’s favorite dessert. Of course, we enjoyed our traditional tea and coffee as well!
The afternoon opened with a few words from Sisters Joan Liss, Harriet Schnurr and Lois Zettler. Joan gave her tribute to Delia along with a crying towel ("just in case"), and Lois gave a tribute to Maureen.
We highlighted the strengths and attributes that they brought to the table, and lamented that we would miss their humour and the little quirks they showed over the years.
Then the staff unveiled our special surprise!
Amazingly it had remained a secret until showtime. We did a flash mob line dance to the song “Jerusalema”. It was a sight to behold (and enjoyed by all, including the dancers)!
It was a bittersweet party. While we were happy to celebrate our leadership team, we were sad to see them leave us. We all agreed, though: they worked long and hard and deserve this time of rest and relaxation without meetings and duties to uphold.
We were also happy to be out of Covid lockdown ... but had to go right back into lockdown again thanks to Influenza A.
We look forward to working with our new Community Leadership Team to create new memories and celebrations - preferably without the input from Covid or the flu!!!
