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Hi Paul, yes it is true that I am leaving DCAL, but certainly not true that DCAL will end.
No-one in life is irreplaceable, and contary to your statement above Terri is not the only surviving committee member. From the original group she is to an extent with Sid as honourary president, but DCAL does have other committee members to.
I am also not "burnt out". I will always have a huge love of carnival, but the time is now right for me to move on. however DCAL will always have my undying support.
There is a huge commitment involved. As I said in my article. "If you think it is one day a year, ya dead wrong."
I have got to be honest and say that I adore carnival and always will, and will still be happy to help out from time to time, but as most of you do not know. For the last year and a half I have suffered with a major problem with my right foot, and it has now come to the point where I am almost certainly going to need surgery to correct it. I have supposed to have been using crutches since June, which I haven't done, and I wouldn't even want to guess how many miles I have walked this year alone just doing carnival routes.
Carnival and everything it entails is HUGE and to be fair there is also only so much critisim from joe public you can take to. Less than 24 hours after this years parade I got a text from a member of the public. There has been other stuff to in the past that has hurt me deeply.
I am not going to lie. I am going to be incredibly sad to leave. The rewards from being with the girls and boys and other courts far outweigh the hard parts, and I have been VERY PRIVILAGED to have been given the opportunity to spend time with these kids. They all know how much I love them, and how much joy they have brought to my life.
DCAL doesn't need to have new people take over, it will survive without me.
Sunday 26th April will be an incredibly emotional night,and one I am not looking forward to.Just thinking about it now makes me well up with tears.
HOWEVER that night is not about me. It is about a great bunch of girls who have clocked up over 41 awards so far this year, and I plan on giving them a stand down which will go down in carnival history.
Every last one of the courts we have had have left their mark etched in my heart, and for that. THE RIDE HAS BEEN WORTH EVERY SECOND.
