weather the storm. "
-Romain Rolland
"Keep your face to the sun and
you will never see shadows."
-Helen Keller
"It's good to remember where you came from and celebrate it. To remember where you came from is part of where you are going."
-Anthony Burgess
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| Yesterday was Bruce's first birthday in Heaven... Brian, Mariah and I wrote birthday messages and sent them in balloons up to the SUNSHINE for him to CELEBRATE in heaven. |
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| Mariah loved the idea of a CELEBRATION for her Great Uncle BRUCE in HEAVEN... here she is with our message filled balloons yesterday ready to send them up to the skies above! |
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| My niece, Emily and nephew, Alec... this photo was on Thursday when they arrived from Vancouver, to start the planning for their dad's celebration. I was so impressed at how well they did, we were so happy to connect. |
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| Last Friday many cousins gathered at our house and had lots of fun and sunny times together... always fun when relatives gather. |
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| More sunshiny visits at our house... the kids drawing on the sidewalk together... Bev and her husband's sister, Dianne, from Vancouver... Brenda and her kids Maxwell and Rowen. |
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| Blanche and Greg at the celebration of their son, Bruce. Here with Bruce's kids and their mom, Gail. |
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| Nels and Jana with Brian and me in the beautiful outdoor setting of the University Club at Sunday's CELEBRATION of Bruce's life. |
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| Alec and Emily at their dad's SUNSHINY CELEBRATION SUNDAY. |
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| Bev's sons... Luke and Sam... and Luke's girlfriend, Kirsten. Sam did a wonderful job of being MC for the celebration. |
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| Nels & Jana at the lovely CELEBRATION Sunday. |
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| A couple of photos that were special to me in the power point of BRUCE created by his son, Alec. Here is Bruce holding my son, Colin in 1979, when Bruce became an uncle for the first time. The photo of Bruce and my daughter, Jana was in the fall of 2005 when Jana lived in Vancouver briefly and was a nanny for Bruce's kids. Both of these pictures were special memories. |
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| Many get togethers were held at our house leading up to Sunday's Celebration of Bruce's life. Emily said she felt much more grounded to go back to Vancouver after her connections with family. We will certainly be sending them love and strength as they journey through the next chapter. |
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| Another SUNNY CELEBRATION... yesterday a little starbucks outing with Mariah after her first morning of Grade two. |
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| Beau yesterday in his dad's truck when they came to pick up Mariah... both the grandkids add so much SUNSHINE to our lives, always! |
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| A saying I've grown very fond of lately... I bought a poster of this for our family room! This past week has been a big build up to the CELEBRATION of my brother-in-law's life. I have taken very many photos so only included some of the many here. On August 11th, my brother-in-law, Bruce passed away in Vancouver after his battle with cancer. Three weeks following his passing, was a lovely CELEBRATION held in Bruce's honour at the University Club in Saskatoon. It was extremely well attended by friends and family from near and far, and was such a perfect tribute to his life. The afternoon was a party like setting of tributes and visits by all. My nephew, SAM, did a wonderful job of MC-ing the program portion. Bruce's daughter, Emily, got up and thanked the guests for coming and for all the people who were a special part of her dad's life. She also read a poem selected by her and her mom which they felt suited Bruce and his love of poetry. Bruce's son, Alec, spent hours the days before creating the power point presentation of Bruce's life in photos, which played in the background all afternoon. Bruce had a few friends giving tributes... A beautiful musical one by his friend, RAY, when he played the Fisher/Segal tune "When Sunny Gets Blue" (this song is a personal favourite of mine, too, and co-insidentally goes with my SUN-SATIONAL theme of today! ) There were also two speeches given by dear friends, GRAHAM and BRIAN... Then the mike was opened to who ever wanted to get up and speak and there were more great stories shared. Bruce was not only an extremely academic guy, he was an accomplished athlete as well. Bruce and Brian were only a year and a month apart in age, but very different in personality. Both great guys!!! Brian was very proud of his big brother, and really found this day a very emotional one. Reliving so many prominent memories in their lives growing up together. The day Bruce passed away, his daughter, Emily, shared that it had rained earlier. When the SUNSHINE came out, it was as if it were her dad arriving in "HIS BETTER PLACE" as she put it. We will look at the "SUNSHINE" in a new way now... it will always represent "BRUCE!" Yesterday was a big day of CELEBRATIONS... it was Bruce's first BIRTHDAY in HEAVEN. Mariah loved that we chose to send him messages in balloons to the sky... she picked a yellow balloon to represent the SUNSHINE. Brian sent a blue one and I had an orange one... all bright colours to represent HAPPINESS! Mariah also began grade two yesterday. She only had a half day, so Brian and I took her to Boston Pizza for a celebration lunch followed by a little treat at the new Starbucks out by where they live. It was a very sunshiny day so we sat outside and enjoyed those treats! Although Bruce is going to be very missed... he will be so fondly remembered always... and now especially as we look up to the SUNSHINE! We thank all our friends who came and supported the family at the celebration for Bruce's life. It meant so much to all of us. We are always so grateful to be surrounded by good friends in times like this. I enjoy CELEBRATIONS...and certainly loved being around so many family members, too, sharing stories, memories, laughter and tears... and so many tight hugs! Lots of these CELEBRATIONS of family gathering and sharing together were simply SUN-SATIONAL! My son, Colin, was unable to attend the celebration but he sent us some great pics of his SUNSATIONAL holiday camping with his girlfriend, Caro. He did send his love and regrets for the Family on the CELEBRATION day. Bruce had a real love for poetry and music. Although my tastes are likely different than his, I, too, share his love of music and poetry... and on that note here is my short poem of the day! In our life there have been many CELEBRATIONS, We have spent so much time with friends and relations! CELEBRATING the warmth and SUNSHINE up above... Also CELEBRATING how we are surrounded by LOVE. |
Love it.. love how you are always able to turn even dark times into celebrations and parties. You are a unique, special person. Thanks for sharing your optimism and family moments.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words... It always means so much to me when you take the time to read and post a comment here! You are right about me loving a celebration...and even when the circumstances are not as good... we try to find the positives in them!
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