Cheery Holiday Greetings!

 Hoping you're enjoying some time with friends or family and celebrating the gift of life nature provides!

Inspired to Create; On Behalf Of My Brother

The cards traditionally provided to bereaved guests don't really appeal to me. I created this to use for my brother's simple service and am working on a eulogy for Saturday. This image will be applied, like a boiler plate, to the inside bottom of a 1 fold card. The words "In Loving Memory" in the same script & colour as the large Willie on the boiler plate image will be printed on the front page. I also added an image of an eagle to the front of the card. Very pleased at how it turned out - this is something I can mail to people who couldn't make it to the service. (We're having snow squalls here and it's possible some people may not be able to get through!)

Starting My New Job and Missing My Brother!

I'll write more about my brother's passing over the weekend after we've had his service and sent him off in style! I'm working on a poem for him, have a eulogy to put together and a notice to put together for the newspaper. I'll be able to share those here when they're done. In the meantime I have this new job I have to get to! And that's what's so really crazy about the past few days (daze!) I was supposed to start with orientation on Monday... But they're waiting for me and they are very understanding - most people can appreciate a loss that close to another family member can be very traumatic and I'm so lucky to have joined up with them rather than some corporation that might not have the same softness of heart. So let me tell you a bit about this - I think it might be of interest to some people. I've accepted a job that pays about half what I used to make doing something somewhat mundane but quite useful. Through that work I am assisting my community and our environment and that seems a very good thing. I've signed on with a non-profit organization that's partnered up with charity groups in the region and through the sale of lightly used clothing and hard goods this company raises money to help other community services. They also send surplus items to other less fortunate.people in other countries in Africa and even India and other countries as well. Hopefully people there are making good use of the items sent. Here in Canada the company is called Value Village - in the US they're called Savers and they've been doing this work for 50 years!. The people who started the company began at the Salvation Army with setting up Thrift Stores and then put their current structure in place and the rest is history! The work I'll be doing for them won't be mentally challenging but I'm told things get hectic and we will be busy! That will make my day go fast! That's a good thing! There may be the opportunity to apply a bit of creativity to the job at some point but now that I have my blogs, my website and my photography to dabble with in my spare time I think it will provide enough creative stimulation to help me make this contribution without getting too discouraged. In addition there are little benefits that make my contribution that much more do-able; discounts and health benefits are available to employees. So this is a different way to contribute to the community! It benefits me as well as our area and allows me essentially to contribute without having to be a "volunteer". I'd call it a new way of volunteering in one's community. Though there's nothing new about it a lot of people who do volunteer work either have an income elsewhere or don't require health benefits and have a fair amount of time available to make a real contribution through their efforts. While I've certainly had the time to do volunteering some minimal income requirements needed to be met and even a low paying position will cover that need in particular because it includes benefits. So my partner John and I are looking forward to the changes and we'll be doing some re-organizing in our lives to accommodate the job and still let me continue with my on line work though with a slower tempo! This story ties in with my brother too - I was looking forward to telling him about my new job, and was hoping I'd have some interesting stories to tell him on Easter weekend, when we'd planned to get together for Easter Dinner. I knew he'd be interested and one of the first things he would've asked would've been the same thing my daughter asked "Do you get employee discounts?". He would have been excited to start getting plans in place to get down here to visit and do some shopping at the Value Village store! Darn! That's one he missed! I'll be thinking of him while I get started at the job - I'm going to go in a bit later today and start getting myself up to speed for them and will give them my best effort to contribute to the success of their operation. I look forward to this new adventure and to doing something that feels useful and productive for the community where I live while helping me too. I'll whistle while I work and the work will help me be busy so I don't dwell too much on things. Life must move on, life is change and so change is what we shall have to focus on and I hope my brother peeks over my shoulder from time to time with a little giggle, a "smart guy" comment or a pat of encouragement! So I'll have lots to write about as I get to learn the ropes and about the company itself. The next few days will be busy but I'll be sure to pop in and out and keep everyone abreast of how I'm doing and how things are going.

My brother passed away last night

I'm probably still in shock. Hoping I manage to stay glued together despite the way things might go over the next few days.
I have hope that Cathy, my sister in law, can be strong and that we can get through this without too much panic.

My brother passed away last night, either sometime over the night or very early in the morning of April 2nd.

Cathy found him dead in the bathroom at 1:00 am this morning when she got home from work
The coroner is doing an autopsy but it's likely a heart attack or stroke that killed him.

What a shocker! I can't believe my brother is gone - my gosh! My big brother, Willie!
As youngsters we were close. As teens we slipped apart a bit, but that's always true with an older brother too I guess.
After my daughter was born we became close again and over the years she was growing up my brother and I became very close and I'm going to miss him. He looked out for me when he could and I looked out for him the same - we cared and were family and that's what mattered the most to both of us. There's nothing more important than blood connections, in our family it made no difference who you were or what you did - what was important was that you were family. And now we're one shy... Oh gee! What a bizarre feeling it is.

My parents may take this fairly hard. (they're in their 70's) I have hope we'll get through these next few days fairly smoothly, without too much panic and heartache - at least not more than expected. How does a parent bury their child? Their children are supposed to bury them. Parents don't want to witness the death of their offspring. It's just not the way it's supposed to be. My mom's in a bit of shock too I think!

And my brother still didn't even have as much gray hair as I do - he teased me always about that - him being older and having fewer gray hairs than me! And of course he always reminded me that he was the older one and that I looked like him not that he looked like me! Seeing that he was born first...

I'll know more later today but it seems nature threw out a cruel April Fools' joke - My brother, dead on April Fools Day. At least as best we can tell it looks like that's when he died! When I learn more - I'll add to this, there are some funny details that I'll save for a day or two from now once the shock has worn off a little. I know my brother would be happy to have the story told. The man he was, it would be a comedic legacy he'd be happy to share with the world.

I was supposed to start work today - my first day on a new job. I called them first thing - though I wasn't starting until 2:00 pm, just for orientation. They're fine at work, thank goodness, and told me to just keep in touch, I'll be able to start as soon as I feel ready. Today John and I will take my parents up to see my sister in law and see how we'll be able to help her. Find out what she plans on doing and how she wants to handle things. This could be a stress filled day, no one's ever prepared for death though it's something that can hit any day, any time. It's hard to really plan for except when someone is deathly ill or very old, family members and their being there are things we all just take for granted. We had planned we'd see each other this Easter weekend, we were just there visiting last weekend and planned to go up for dinner on Easter Sunday. I was going to bring him some of the extra strawberry plants from my garden. Plants I got from him just 4 years ago!