Old Soldiers

Battery Park Monument: New York Korean War Veterans Memorial

The happenstantial circumstances of my life have taken me to few weddings, even fewer baptisms and still, gratefully, not too many funerals.

Perhaps as a harbinger of those latter gatherings, I have been going to a lot of retirement parties lately.

As with all rites of passage, there is a formula: people gather, talk, snack, drink, listen to speeches of varying length and quality, then hug or shake hands and disperse.

In the past month, I have been part of the ritual for 

a fellow director at the ministry, 

a lawyer formerly with the ministry, 

my former boss at Toronto Public Health 

Next week, I'll be attending the retirement party of a well known lobbyist for the petroleum industry.

While the gatherings so far have all followed the formula, none were alike. 

The fete for my fellow director involved less than ten people gathered in a drab and airless government boardroom. There was coffee and chocolate cake (at ten in the morning). A few of those in attendance managed to struggle out some comments about the leadership or some other aspect of the retiree's career and he obliged us by telling the stories about himself we'd already heard a thousand times. The whole thing was over in less than an hour. I forgot to shake the retiree's hand on my way out.

The celebration for the lawyer formerly with the Ministry was also held in a government boardroom, but this time it was the one on the 15th floor at 135 St. Clair Avenue West - which commands a spectacular view of the city to the south. There were about fifty people there, all from the ministry. The lunch time event featured a respectable spread of asian-style salads and ten different kinds of sandwich. The speeches were to be short, but also scheduled after I had to leave. I had hugged the retiree at the beginning of the party so I left without a parting word to anyone.

The late afternoon soiree for my former boss from Toronto Public Health was held at the swanky Faculty Club at the University of Toronto. There were at least 100 people there, including Joe Mihevc, a City Councillor, David McKeown, the former City of Toronto Medical Officer of Health, Eva Ligeti, the first ever Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, and several former colleagues whom I had not seen in more than a decade. Along with a respectable spread of high quality nibbles, a circulating waiter served crab cakes, spring rolls and sweet and sour pork. There was also a cash bar.

The speeches were long, elaborate, amusing, touching - a fitting appreciation of the career of the woman who had taught me how to be an advocate for the environment inside government. The festivities were capped with an all-staff performance of a song in tribute to my former boss to the "tune" of Queen's We Will Rock You.  

After three hours, the party was still going on. I had a lot of people to hug and shake hands with before I could get out of there.

The bash next week for the petroleum industry lobbyist is to be held at one of the rich-people-only clubs on King Street downtown.

I predict his ritual will feature the best food ever, an open bar, a sizeable crowd with many familiar faces, and no one to hug.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen