Last weekend, May 3rd, I spent the day with my kids and family members in a small town called Meaford, its near Collingwood on Georgian Bay. The occasion was a memorial service where we interred the ashes of my 106 year old grand mother, Edna Boose Long, her son Bill Long and my Mom, Patricia Alofs. It has been nearly 6 years since my Mom died of breast cancer but the day was still an emotional one for all of us. I have had some good friends pass from cancer over the past year and its remarkable how the long, slow decline that is cancer stays with the family and friends that watch loved ones die of the disease. If there is any good that comes from cancer, it is that the patient usually has plenty of time to reflect on life, connect with family, get things in order, and say good byes. Most who die from cancer go slowly……this disease leaves such a mark on all. When I see family and friends and nurses and doctors gathering around, dropping in and caring for loved ones with cancer, it reminds me of the best parts of the human spirit. Last weekend was an emotional time for all in my family. Time doesn’t make the way we feel about loved ones lost any different. We remembered all the good times, we remembered the wonderful relationships we had, we shed some tears as we put the ashes into the ground in Meaford. Gone, not forgotten.
My cousin George from Calgary took this picture as I bent down to place the ashes of my Mom into the earth. The inspiration to conquer cancer runs deep.
