Maybe It Wasn't (Reviewing 2nd Annual Babey Gabey Bowl)

I didn't want to go to the 2nd Annual Babey Gabey Bowl last night.  In fact, my partner and I had words during the afternoon.  I definitely wanted him to go but I just didn't want to go.  For the second time this year, he brought out the card that he has been hiding under his sleeve.  He pointed out the thousand things that he does to support me (and that was just in the last week) and how short of a list it is of things I do for him.  

So, we went and it was an amazing evening.  I felt guilty about the value that we got for our small ticket price. There was an awesome vibe of authenticity in the hall.  That was the way it felt for me.  People with all of their masks off not playing any parts.  Just being there to support Gabriel's family and to support all the families out there who may be struggling now or potentially in the future.  

It was powerful.  A group of all different people being authentic and having some laughs together.  No better a story of humanity.  It felt like if we put our minds and hearts together, we could solve any of the world's problems.  It was an evening of profound loss and profound hope.  

It was an evening in which one young man won three silent auction prizes, yet, everyone was cheering for him to win a fourth.  We all were winners.  If all people were drawn to events like this, we most certainly would have a better world.  

The Chateau Lanes was the perfect venue with the perfect furnishings, space, and facilities.  The food was the best buffet that I had ever seen.  I didn't think it would be enough for me, but, I think everyone got enough to eat.  My partner had a soup of butter chicken sauce with a piece of pizza in it.  He ate it like it was the most delicious thing he ever had.  The music was perfect and everyone danced in the aisles while still having intimate conversations.  The prizes were the best selection that I have ever seen.  Everything was done with the utmost class.  An event capturing the free spirit that was Gabriel and supporting the worthiest of projects, the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre.  

I took a picture that I thought captured the event perfectly.  It was a number of his family wearing the t-shirts honouring him mixed in with a group of people in quiet reflection but everyone had the most peaceful expression on their face.  

It was indeed a perfect evening but then when I got home, I had to face the reality of why I didn't want to go.  I knew that I would be surrounded with so much hopeful energy that I wouldn't be able to come down from that.  It was the truth.  My brain could not turn off until about 6 am.  When I finally had reviewed every moment several times, a new train of thought came to me.

What if it wasn't as perfect as I thought?  What if Chateau Lanes wasn't the utopia that it was in my mind?  What if it was just an ordinary bowling alley?  What if the food wasn't the fine cuisine that my mind made it out to be?  What if it was just great and not extraordinary?  What if there weren't people actually dancing like there was in my memory?  I actually started to panic because I knew my first impressions were the actual truth.  I reached for my phone.  I knew I had photographic proof of the perfect event.  And, as you can tell by the picture accompanying this entry, it was infact, the perfect event.  

It was perfect in the authenticity of the souls that were there.  Everyone there was anxious to find a way to make everything right rather than being the kind of people anxious to find things to make everything wrong.  It truly was an evening of hope.  Sometimes the solutions to our greater problems aren't as complicated as we believe.  Sometimes people with lived experiences know that the answers are simple but not simplistic.  Just be kind.  

In a world where you can be anything, chose to be kind.