Your Healing Journey – A Journey of Hope

April 3, 2024

The Power of Lived Experience

February 12, 2024

Valentines Day and Memories

<p>Hello, and welcome to another episode of your healing journey, a journey of hope. Today I wanted to spend just a few moments talking about Valentine&#x27;s Day, which is only a couple days away, and the memories that it left with, certainly with me, and with the time I spent together with Deborah. So Valentine&#x27;s Day typically is, the relationship there is more so for the purchase of flowers to give to your significant other, your loved one, perhaps a dinner out are some of the things I know when I think back, those were some of the things that were precious to us. And now what I&#x27;m left with is the memory of giving those flowers. I can still remember taking flowers to where my wife Deborah worked, and that was always the big deal was getting the flowers delivered to her place of work, and usually I probably overdid it just a little bit as far as the size of the bouquet and that, but in any event, she was my valentine, and I wanted to be able to honor her in doing so. One of the things that I found as time has gone on since Deborah passed in 2021 was that special occasions have a way to trigger memories, have a way to trigger our response or reaction to a number of things, and actually they are a reminder of what we had and what we could have had, had she have lived longer than what she did. And for most of us, I think what we need to be able to do is to be able to think of why this day is so special, and by that I mean Valentine&#x27;s Day. What is or what was the significance of that day to us in order to be able to move forward? You know, some things have changed, and we wish we could go back, but we know that we can&#x27;t, or reality sets in and we realize that going back is not an option. It&#x27;s another day to remember and to actually, you know, it&#x27;s Deborah&#x27;s birthday is coming up on the 24th, and her daughter is arranging to have a birthday supper in her honor, and that&#x27;s, sorry, that&#x27;s important to me that they would take the time and effort to do that, my son and my daughter, so that even though it may be another day to remember, it still has significance and we still want to honor her in however we possibly can. And so, I&#x27;m getting emotional here, so I just, I wanted to, as we&#x27;re getting close to wrapping up here, I wanted to just let her know, let Deborah know that you were my valentine for 43 years, and every day is a memory that I wish to cherish and hold. And so thank you for giving me that opportunity. And to our listening audience, I sincerely hope that you take the time to celebrate Valentine&#x27;s Day and the love that you have for your significant other. Take that time and let them know how much you actually do love them, whether it&#x27;s simply just saying I love you, or whether it&#x27;s a bouquet of flowers, chocolates, whatever makes you feel happy. I know for me, the flowers eventually kind of petered out and it became recognizing that we loved each other and spending some quality time together outside of what would be considered the norm. And so I encourage you to do what you have to do in order to share those memories and to read and actually to remember what you had and what you could have had, had things been different. And with that, may God bless.</p>

January 29, 2024

The Dreaded Week-end

<p>Well, good morning. I thought I&#x27;d post this early this morning before I take off and head off to Sask Polytech to speak to the HR class on mental health. And it kind of triggered something that I felt I needed to do, which was to talk a little bit about the dreaded weekend. And what I mean by that is we&#x27;re coming up to three years since Debra passed and out of, aside from her not being here, the other part is the aspect of the weekends was when we used to do so much together. That was our together time. We would visit the grandchildren, we would visit friends, we would do all sorts of exciting things, but we did that together. And that&#x27;s what&#x27;s missing for me today. And that&#x27;s why if somebody says, you know, how was your weekend? I typically will tell people that it was all right, but it&#x27;s not my favorite time of the week. And that&#x27;s simply just because there is a piece of it missing a key integral part of it being my happy time, which was the time that I would spend with Debra. So for those of you that are going through the grieving process, I&#x27;m sure some of you will be able to echo my thoughts and feelings. And in any event, I hope that you have a great week and may God bless.</p>