As I have posted a while back, I will feature people I know who I admire for some reason or another. They could be people who have done good deeds. These people could be my friends, co-worker, relatives, someone I just met.
I will do it randomly so this will not be in any way in order of importance.
Hopefully, they will know that whatever they have done, it has affected me or others, and that we appreciate it.
This is also about special places, any place which I feel gave me pleasant feeling/good feeling, awesome experience, or I was awed by it. Or it could be my first venture in a paticular place, some could be quirky but they are to me wonderful places and somehow I always remember them.
The first one will be a guy my sister knows very well and I can say with confidence, one of her best friends. When my nephew died, he picked me up at the airport, taken me to the funeral home to arrange for the services, drove me to the caterer to pick up some food, and was just there for me. He was my emotional and physical support during the visitation and funeral service. If I remember correctly, he was on vacation and spent his entire holiday time with us helping in any way he can. On my way home, he took us to a restaurant for dinner. I hope he knows how much I appreciated all that he has done. It made it a bit bearable what had happened. So to Percy, my deep gratitude and big thank you.
This lady is like my second mother. She was my assistant when I was Site Manager. Our lives almost took the same direction about 5 years ago. We both experienced betrayal to the highest degree. She was a great support to me and the only person I have cried and sobbed seriously about my experience. We were there for each other and learned our lessons at the same time. It almost felt like we moved on with our lives at the same time. Today, we still talk a lot about our experiences and have learned to take care of ourselves first. We still go out to dinner, or some other activities. We also laugh a lot about what we have gone through. We check up each other as we also have both gone through medical treatments. Phyllis, I value your friendship so much and you have been really like a mother to me. Thank you for all the advice.
This person would have been in this list no matter what. He is a great brother to his sister, the best son to his parents and a loved one to his friends. I baby sat him when he was young and considered him to be my own as I did not have kids for a long time. When I finally really knew him as an adult, I was so proud as I believe I had a big part in raising him. Though I am sad he will not be reading this, somehow I feel he knows I care about him. So Gino, wherever you are, know that I love and cherish you.
If I have to choose a person to become a part of our family, he would be the one. A person with goodness on his face, as my mother would have said. He came into my sister's life at the right time, I think. Although at first my sister told me she would not want to get married, and eventually did, makes me feel that really she has found the right person. When he came to give us support when my mother passed away, I knew he would be a great addition to our small family. And of course, I was right. He makes my sister happy and that's all I care about. Jeff, my favorite brother-in-law!!!
Our building lobby to me is a special place. This is our small community and it is where we meet friends and acquiantances and catch up with what is happening in our lives. Sometimes this is where we make a date to go out and eat, go for walks or for coffee or just to say hi. It is a place to socialize.
This is where I relax, listen to music, read a book or magazines, knit or crochet or just do nothing. It is a corner in my living room where I have a big ottoman with a table and a lamp and two plants. There are pillows and throws if I want to really just feel comfortable. Sometimes I even take a nap here.
Rows and rows of rose bushes/plants of all colours, as far as your eyes can see. Some have just buds, half opened, in full blooms, some with amazing scents, others don't. I accidentally encountered this with my son when we were in the UK. We had to stop and investigate as we did not realize at first what we were seeing.
We had gone for a walk, he was on roller blades. I could not believe he was so interested. It is located in Lady's Drove in Emneth. When I went back to it, I even pick/stole 3 yellow roses. As my son said, "awesome".
A really special boy. His passion is airplanes and he wants to be a pilot. You can ask him all kinds of questions about planes and he will have an answer. But he has this great interest/hobby in cooking and baking. I don't know exactly when he started but I know at the age of 9 he can cook the family's dinner which could be lasagna and salad, garlic toast. He baked a cake from scratch for his mother's birthday, watched me bake shortbread and did it himself the next day. He will call or email me asking for swiss meringue icing recipes or squares and he will do it that day or the next. What is amazing is he would change a recipe and make it his own and it comes out great. I would not mind having a son like him. What a break from cooking dinner!!! Meet Mitchell and he is from Yellowknife. He is now 11 and I can say, an experienced cook/baker.
It is the flagship store. They sell thousands of items women like to buy. It is kind of intimadating as there are lots of options/choices. I missed it twice while taking a walk in this very popular avenue because I was more interested in the pastry shops close to it. This is the Sephora store in Champs Elysees in Paris. What a shopping adventure. I had enjoyed it because at that time we did not have Sephora in Edmonton and this was the first I guess. The scent of perfumes is overwhelming. I bought lip gloss, foundation and some other little things I can't even remember now.
A group of retired people who decided to do some volunteer work. This is what is good when you live in a small community. People know each other and they care. They are all friends. There is an older lady (she is 97) who needs help and the family works and can't take care of her for about 4 hours each day. So these retirees volunteered to takecare/watch her while the family members are at work. I believe there is some kind of schedule and they just take their turns. An admirable form of generosity. And I know them as well and heard about it so I am including them in this my segment of special people because truly they are. So to Ramon and Ian, Gloria, Estrell and Diana, my hats off to all of you. I hope I did not miss anybody else. It is some kind of random act of kindness of a different form.
A friend for more than 12 years, she has gone through a lot with her health. Like me , she is also a diabetic. In the last two years she had to make decisions she did not expect to be making. Her brother had an aneurysm and was in a fragile condition. She postponed her important surgery to be with him. To make long story short, her brother was not going to make it and it was up to her to make the decision to pull the plug. She was expecting he would be gone in a few days, but he hung on for 3 more weeks and she felt strong guilt of whether she made the right decsion. One day, she had a vision of him saying goodbye to her and he passed away the next morning. Today, she still feels a bit of guilt when we had a get together with another mutual friend. Marissa, you have done what you had to do and I am sure Jojo would have done the same. A special friend who is always there and even if we don't call very often, when we do, it was like just the day before. Sad to say but due to her diabetes, she is legally blind in one eye and the other is not as well either.
A 4 generation family living up North. The matriarch is turning 98 years old this April. Her daughter-in-law is her major caretaker with the help of the granddaughter and her family. Recently, she was hospitalized and now needs almost 24/7 care. But they are working and the grandkids are in school, yet they have managed to give her the care she needs with the help of their friends and homecare staff. I can't help but admire their determination to keep her home. They take turns and whoever needs to do errands, someone is always there even the grandkids take their turns. Although I have learned that she in on the list to go into seniors/nursing home environment and I am sure that they will be there assisting as well. Her daughter is visiting and helping with the care for a month or so which will give a break to the rest of the family. Nene, Buttons, Doug, Victoria and Mitchell, hats off to all of you for making Wiwa's life as comfortable as you can make it. I just hope there will be someone when I am that old just checking up on me. You all deserve to be on my special people feature.
She is one of my officemates. Her office is just beside mine. When I had to have my eye surgeries, I had to put eye drops first on the eye I would have surgery. After a week, I had to put drops on both eyes. I am one of those people who has a hard time putting drops or anything on my eye, so she has done my eye drops for me at work two or three times a day from last week of November to the end of September this year. Thank you Zarah, you have made it a lot easier for me after the surgeries and sometimes you would ask if I needed the drops or when do I need it. So for a year it was like having a private nurse. I have learned to do it on my own but I waste drops as I blink just before I have to put it on my eye. Again a big thank you!!!!
