I am passionate about life, family, friends, and relationships. This blog is about survival. It's about the voyage through grief, and heartache, and joy, love and loss. It's about my experiences, and the very raw, and personal journey, and the highs and lows of living life in the best way I know how. It is honest, and real, and is often uncomfortable.
You wake up for 82 years, and then 3 days before your 83rd birthday, your name is called, and you pass into the loving arms of Jesus. It is a day unlike any other, because this is your destiny day. The day you “ will meet your maker.” Sitting with you, at your bedside watching … More “It happened one day “
The sun was streaming in the window, and warming up the red and green plaid blanket that was wrapped about her frail legs. It is Wednesday, March 3rd. Spring and buds, and flowers, and Easter are not far off. I held her hands with my gloved one.. The pink nail polish that I had applied … More “Give me eyes to see the beauty”
“Good Morning,” what a beautiful entrance to the day , the sun is shining, and a little black bushy tail squirrel is racing from limb to limb on the mighty oak tree just outside the window.. She beams a big delightful gummy smile. She is looking in my general direction, but her eyes don’t see … More Reading our stories together….
This about sums it up. Spilling and sending dried flowers cascading and sprinkling across the low pile carpet fibers.. it’s a gift… this clumsy behaviour of mine. Each and every time I try to be quiet, and careful , the opposite occurs, and there is an accident of some type.. My grand entrance is not … More “Like a bull in a china shop..”
The room was draped in plastic, the sound of an “hepa” air cleaner whirring, and then….. the drilling began. It sounds like the ominous beginning of a horror film playing in my head. The music would be dramatic, and with your jaw held open, there is a feeling of helplessness. My son Zach writes often … More About as fun as a root canal
I call it holy laughter. The kind that creeps up on you, and surprises with a quickness and vigor that is unexpected. A few words shared together that get all jumbled up, and before you realize it, you are both breaking into giggles. That was yesterday. It was tense when I had offered Mum her … More Laugh till your cheeks hurt..
Ever since I was a wee girl, the story of Christmas, and it’s meaning was read to me. My Dad often read the account from the Bible . This is a memory that makes me smile . I had a good good Father . Story time when you are a child is treasured, but it … More When hope was born ….
Mum entered the long term care home in June of 2020, during the coved pandemic. This is hard to write, because there are many feelings and emotions fluttering in and out of my lungs. To say this year has been fraught with land mines and emotional roller coaster rides is a gross understatement. We have … More Being in captivity ….
It was a treasure hunt amongst the ruins, and cast away items that needed to find resurrected life in another home. We were saving them, doing them a favor, these artifacts that caught our eyes, and placed smiles of satisfaction upon our lips. “Junking,” a term I heard from a friend at least 20 years … More The “Antiquing Amigas..”
When two girls are shopping at TJ Maxx, and both find the same pair of shoes, it’s a material and economic question that needs to be asked.. “ Do we really need these?” Of course the answer, is not need, inevitably, it’s want. They appeal to our sense of style. We each spied them, independent … More Mixing and Matching….
Jilly Brandon 