Even shy people can "get it"

Even shy people can "get it"

For much of my life I dreaded parties. My gregarious “outside” hides a shy “inside”, so I would attend parties with the certainty that I’d be off in a corner on my own.


Of course this never happened and I most often enjoyed the event far more than I could have imagined.


I was at a party last Saturday evening. It was a catered affair to mark the retirement of Wes and Cindi Wasdyke from St. Boniface Church. We were in a lovely home in the not very well known “Oyster Bay” section of Sarasota.

Here is how one local Realtor describes Oyster Bay

Oyster Bay Estates is a highly desirable west-of-trail waterfront neighborhood. The tree lined streets are graced by traditional Florida homes which are slowly giving way to new estate homes on spacious lots. These are quiet, tree lined bayfront community for those who desire a taste of the old Florida lifestyle.

In Oyster Bay, many homes are either bayfront or on canals which lead directly to the Bay. This is a boaters paradise, with open waters just feet away.

That’s a fairly good description. The many old oak and banyan trees add and air of tranquility to the neighbourhood, and provide much needed “natural cooling”. 

Our hosts were Reg and Alan. Reg is a member of St. Boniface and I know him fairly well. Alan is not a church attender. Their home is utterly lovely and is surrounded with gorgeous gardens which they have created.

But even lovelier than the home and garden was the way in which they made us feel at home and altogether welcome. It was almost as if they were saying “we have this lovely home just so that you can enjoy it with us”.


I suppose that I knew about a third to a half of the guests. The others were strangers to me - they were the spouses and partners of the St. Boniface staff - all of us there with fond affection for Cindi and Wes.

I had a lovely evening, in part because I met good folks who were strangers to me (and I to them).

For instance, I met a stockbroker who works for a prestigious national company. With a bit of trepidation I asked him what he thought about Barack Obama’s economic interventions. (You can guess what I expected a stockbroker to say!). In fact he said that the program was wise and essential, and that if the government had allowed Merrill Lynch and Goldman & Sachs to go belly up we’d now be dealing with 25% unemployment and possible civil unrest).

I wish that the Republicans (who on principle oppose every little last detail of Obama’s policies), and the “Tea-baggers” (who are opposed to everyone who is even marginally to the left of Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, or Vlad the Impaler) would give our President and his team just a scintilla of credit for what he is doing.

But then again, I have sometimes wished that pigs could fly!!