Our friend Jeannie

Our friend Jeannie had a way of lighting up the world she lived in. She was an enthusiastic participant in life and enjoyed it to the hilt. Sixty nine years old she was a dynamo doing service for those less fortunate than herself. She had a way of making you feel like you were the most important person in the whole universe, when she was sharing her life and her adventures with you. She'd find out someone was sick or in hospital and she'd hop into a cab and scoot on over to see them. She'd think nothing of spending hours and hours with us if she felt we needed her company. She would have barbeques at her condo, of which she was inordinately proud and she'd take us all for a walk before we ate. The oldest amongst us, she would always be up front leading the way. Jeannie fit the theme of this blog admirably, indeed she lit so many candles during her life that our whole world shines brightly because of her.
She had one daughter and 3 grandchildren, the youngest of whom was a long awaited grandson, Sean, who was just 14 days old when he met his granny for the first time, just before Christmas.
On her return from a gambling trip in September( she had incredible luck and always shared her winnings by taking people out to eat Chinese food), Jeannie took ill and discovered she had cancer.
We will remain forever grateful that she chose Deb and myself and another close friend Diane to care for her during what turned out to be her final battle. It was truly a time that memories are forged from. We laughed a lot, cried a bit, prayed and spent hours and hours at her condo with her. Diane and Deb learned to give Jeannie her injections, whilst I played the role of the supporter behind the scenes, calming everyone down when they got too emotional or fearful. During the days leading up to Christmas, Jeannie loved listening to Christmas carols and would sing along merrily. Sometimes she would get us to sing along as well.......poor dear, she was too sick to run away once I got singing. Deb and Diane magically disappeared whilst I was crooning along with Nat King Cole. Once after a particularly gruelling chemotherapy session, she hoarsely and weakly started singing, "Lean on me" a song that is indelibly etched in my mind. That was our Jeannie. Whenever anyone was sick or hurting she'd start humming that tune to let us know we had a friend to lean on.
On January/13th Our Jeannie lost her battle with the dreaded disease and passed away peacefully in her sleep.
This week Deb was thinking of Jeannie and said, "Jeannie if you are out there and can really hear me, please give me a sign.
When she turned on the radio in the car, the song "Lean on me" started playing.

WE LOVE YOU JEANNIE!! YOUR CANDLE IS STILL LIT!!

Donations for Tsunami victims

As the world reels from the horrific results of the tsunami that took so many lives and caused such destruction, good people from around the globe responded by giving and giving generously.
A great many candles have been lit by the generosity of donors.
In Canada aid agencies were working overtime taking pledges from generous hearted Canadians. One agency reported it had enough funds to operate for 20 years. Just about every media company is featuring ways by which Canadians can donate.
There are workplace collections, donor boxes at local grocers, special bank accounts set up by various faith based organizations. The ways which people are coming up with in order to help thos in need is truly staggering.
Our globe should be glowing with the generosity of peoples spirit, if there was a way to measure this generous giving in physical terms.
Suffice it to say that in a world filled with war and violence, ordinary people are just opening their hearts and their purse strings to help those most in need, in the best traditions of "Light One Candle".