Friendships After Five
In 27 years, I’ve only missed one Gala. Side-room karaoke, mile-long prize tables, DJs who kept us dancing until closing—I’ve got a memory for every decade. Winning a PS2 in the early 2000s even saved Christmas during my single-dad years.
And at the kids’ parties, we watched our children grow up together—at Copps, community centres, Chuck E. Cheese, and Soccer World—tiny snow boots becoming bigger sneakers, and eventually, grown-up goodbyes.