What can I say? ANother cool night!

Last night was the end of a long day and an even longer week, in spite of the fact it was only 4 days!

I was with Joan and Amanda, Santos having spirited himself away to the prairies for a family wedding.

At dinner we had the Island well represented. JJ and his mum, and Vanna (oh...she's going to hate that name...) and Breezy and her mum (who are from Chilliwack). Bob from Burnaby rounded out the group. I have known Bob for 6 years now and I am amazed at how much he has grown. He will always be the same little kid that I met 6 years ago...but he sure is getting big.

JJ is 13 and is a super cool, smart, and funny kid. If you have seen any of the Canuck PLace commercials he did one with Roberto Luongo: http://www.canuckplace.org/news_events/video_gallery/articles693.php

or this one: http://www.canuckplace.org/news_events/media_centre/psas/articles361.php

We had a chill night upstairs playing a game called Apples to Apples. We (joan, Vanna, JJ, and I) talked a lot...had a lot of laughs. Amanda was helping Bob figure out the ways to advance (uhm... cheat) in his video game that he plays all the time. I think he got a little further thanks to the internet!

I am never really amazed at what happens at the house. Everything just happens--it is all so normal. From the respite care to the end of life care the house works to achieve absolute normalcy for all of the families and volunteers involved.

Thank you, Canuck Place.

Where you from? Who do you be?

I get to see on occasion visits from far flung places to the site. Who are you? Leave a comment. Who lives in Beverley Hills? You come back often, Thank you!

As I write the blog posts I realise that I am not doing it for anything other than sharing. If one day a blog post that I write does something incredible for the person reading it. Cool. Come back and say hi.

fragile place

Grounding. A word I used the other day.

Nothing more grounding than learning that a little boy you saw on Friday night had to leave his Mum, Dad, and Big Sister on Sunday morning.

Another example of how Canuck Place works. Little Kyler quietly died, with his family around him, surrounded by a big , wonderful, old house.

What a cool night. Just what the doctor ordered. Having been told my job has been cut to .875 full time for next year I found myself chomping at the bit to get to the house. As I have said before hanging out at the house can be rejuvenating and also very grounding.

Tonight Steve, Amanda and Joan were all in to volunteer and we had Willa, who is a new addition to the house, Denise with her mum and grandma, Carter in with his mum dad, brother and sister, and a little boy named Kyler who had his mum, dad, and big sister with him and last but not least, Sadie who was there with her mum A full house.

Canuck Place is way more than a children's hospice. It is a family home.

I got to sit beside Denise and Willa at dinner. I helped Willa to get food on her spoon when she needed the help. Nurse Marg was helping Sadie.

After dinner we mosied up to the art room to hangout, colour, toss a ball around (something that Sadie loves to play).

Both Sadie and Willa are nonverbal. Sometimes communication is such a challenge. Eyes and facial expressions make up a lot of the communication process. Willa could speak a little but it is a struggle for her to form the words and it is especially difficult to decipher what is being said. I took a shine to Willa right away. She is an absolutely beautiful 13 year old with long dark hair and stunning eyes. I kept having to apooligise for not understanding the words she was trying to form. We did ok together, but I could tell how frustrating it is for her to try and speak without being understood. She reminded me of K-Dogg (who has left the program now that he is 19). Willa would grin at all of my stupid jokes like K-Dogg did.

At one point Sadie had a seizure...something she is prone to do. The seizures range from just zoning out to full muscular contractions of her body. I noticed the seizure and got mums attention. I held Sadie's hands and mum was at her head talking quietly to her. The seizure lasted about 90 seconds and then Sadie came back.

A little later we met Axel. He had just come in from the Island to stay for the weekend. He is over to play power soccer with a Vancouver team. We had a quick chat and then it was time to go.

After saying goodnight to everyone I realised what a good night it was.

I left the house happy.