My Setbacks Do Not Decide How My Story Ends

I have loved bringing people together since I was a child. I was the mother hen, the gatherer, the table-setter, the planner, and the organizer. I enjoyed sharing meals and celebrating birthdays, reunions, and life’s milestones with family and friends. I witnessed this modelled by my mother and father, aunts, uncles, extended family, and friends through our faspas (Mennonite-style Sunday afternoon gatherings similar to Afternoon Tea) and other events. Around those tables, we shared food, laughter, and stories. Relationships were cultivated and nurtured, community was built, and memorable moments created. I learned early that gathering in person is a beautiful way to share hospitality and show people that they matter and that you care about them.

As a child, I noticed the planning, preparation, and work required to make those gatherings possible. Organizing, preparing, and paying attention to the details came naturally to me long before I recognized them as strengths. For many years, I held the dream and vision of becoming an event designer and hostess. I have always loved people, planning, and parties.

Those strengths remained and grew as I became a wife, mother, Oma, entrepreneur, volunteer, and woman committed to serving her community. For more than 40 years, hospitality, event design, and caring deeply for people have been woven throughout my life. Looking back, I can connect the dots and see how those early experiences shaped who I have become and prepared me for the work I do.

My journey, however, has included several major personal, professional, and financial setbacks. There were seasons when tragedies occurred, opportunities were lost, plans changed, and rebuilding required more strength than I knew I possessed. I continued moving forward, even when progress was slow, difficult, and largely unseen.

My parents were both ill before they died, more than a decade apart. Losing each of them confirmed the brevity of life and the importance of gathering with the people we love while we still have the opportunity. Their deaths changed how I understood time, relationships, and presence. Moments together could no longer be treated as guaranteed or continually postponed.

Ironically, estrangement occurred after the deaths of my parents and brought another kind of grief. It deepened my appreciation for the trusted friends and chosen family who remain present, reciprocal, non-judgemental, and loving. I became even more intentional about nurturing those relationships and creating opportunities for people to gather.

After major health setbacks, healing did not mean returning to who I was. With faith, prayer, and fierce determination, I became much stronger, more intentional, and more grateful for life. I also became more determined than ever to live fully, guided by purpose, passion, and perseverance.

Friends, colleagues, and clients often tell me they love my energy, or speak of my kindness, my smile, and the joy and love I radiate. I receive these words with gratitude and humility. That joy reflects the resilient, regulated, and renewed woman and business owner I have become.

My work through Signature Experience Events is an expression of this lifelong commitment to gathering, hospitality, and connection. I help women prepare for and host events where they can be present with their guests rather than depleted before anyone arrives. My experiences have taught me that it’s about presence, peace, and purpose.

Hospitality has never been only about what I place on a table. It is also how I honour those God has placed in my life and use my experience to serve women who are building businesses, leading communities, caring for families, and pursuing dreams of their own.

I know my why and my God-given purpose, and I am committed to stewarding it wholeheartedly. My assignment is to share my gifts, talents, and experience so people feel welcomed, seen and cherished, and to remind them what is possible.

My journey continues to confirm what I have always believed: it is never too late to pursue your dreams. When you are dedicated, determined, disciplined, and diligent, your setbacks do not decide how your story ends.