The Women of Fishing Families (WOFF) put on a kicker of a maritime festival on Saturday. We had been planning this since October! The one thing we didn't have control over was the weather which reared it's ugly head with chilly temps, rain and strong winds. But, we prevailed and our town prevailed by coming to our festival anyway. We had over a 100 people at the blessing of the fleet in the morning in the rain. By 1, the rain had stopped, the wind kicked up another notch, but we still had our fisherman Olympics and a rocking band! And food....lots of food, fish, shellfish, scallops, a roasted pig, burgers and naturally, beer. It was a great day!
But the most impressive, jaw dropping thing of all, was my sister. She is the leader of our band of ladies(WOFF). She is also 5 years younger than me. Now, those of you with younger siblings, as the oldest you are kind of the boss. For years, I have looked out for her, protected her, teased her, worried about her and helped her. However, in the past 2 years since starting this group from nothing but a solid desire to form a cohesive bond around all things maritime, she has blossomed. Since I was thick in the planning of the festival with her, I did not notice as clearly, her dedication. It was in church yesterday when it hit me like a ton of bricks. My little sister is really a woman with a mission. My minister kept with the maritime theme yesterday and talked a lot about sharing the gifts we have with others. He had asked my sister to speak about WOFF and where we were headed and what we were trying to accomplish. The giggly little girl with the long blond hair and the ability to make friends with anyone, stood up there as an assured 37 year old telling her hopes and dreams for WOFF, her baby. Our group raises money to give back to the fishing community . We are going to be giving 2 scholarships to seniors on the Cape this year and eventually we will have money to give to fishing families who might need some financial help. Yes, there are about 15 hard working, kick ass women in our group, but my little sister is the heart and soul of it. I felt so proud of her as she told the church our mission and about how we are giving our gifts essentially, but also how thrilled we were by the excitement the town has over our little group.
You have come a long way, Karen, and I couldn't be more proud of you!
6 comments:
What a lovely tribute to your sister and I was drooling reading about all the great food you had at your meeting!
SUZIE! I love you more than you know and your words filled my heart. :) Thank you for always encouraging me, supporting me, and being someone I can always look up too. But, even more importantly - for being someone I can share an inside joke with, laugh AT myself with, and trust with everything. Auga Muga :)
isn't it odd when our younger siblings do cool stuff? I'm still getting used to it. My sister is 4 years younger than me and I still see her as this annoying little kid, but yet she's so different now!
That is absolutely wonderful! My bro it 8 years younger than me and I feel the same way about him and his firefighting. It's so great when we go from remember what pains in the butt they coudl be to seeing them come into their own. It's different than when a parent sees it.
what a sweet tribute to your sister!!! and wow is she dedicated!
How sweet of you to say such nice things about your sister. And what a fun thing to put on that "festival". I can't even imagine the planning and prep work that went into it. Well actually I can and now..... you can get on with your life.
So did ya win the school board position?
Post a Comment