DEAR GOD….

A couple of months ago I wrote about my brother and his wife coming to visit us from Toronto “feeling at home”, it was a really good visit and we had so much fun.  This is my brother’s second marriage and due to the miles between us and just everyday life, I haven’t had a chance to see my brother and his wife as often as I would like.   Over the last few years I’ve only met his wife a handful of times, but it seems like I’ve known her forever.  She’s just that kind of person, charming, intelligent, genuine and she can handle my brother which brings her up a notch in my books.  In no way is this a knock to my brother’s first wife as I’m very fond of her and I will never forget all that she did for my mother in her final hours, but unfortunately the marriage just didn’t work out.    My brother is extremely outspoken and I love his outspokenness but lets face it not everyone does well with outspoken people and there are times we outspoken people have to learn to be a little less us…  I know I’m one of those outspoken people and I’ve gotten myself in more shit over the years than I can count.  What I find amazing about my sister-in-law is that she accepts my brother’s ways and loves him for who he is but she knows exactly how to handle him and get this – he listens!  The reason he listens is because he has complete respect and love for his wife and you can see it, you can feel it.  This is why writing this breaks my heart, just over a week ago my sister-in-law became ill – she went to the doctor and they gave her antibiotics.  However her illness did not go away it got worse.  She went to the hospital and she was diagnosed with pneumonia, she doesn’t just have pneumonia she also has leukemia.  We’ve all heard how far they’ve come with curing leukemia and the medical community certainly has.  Unfortunately, that is if you have the right leukemia!  My sister-in-law has acute leukemia and it’s very aggressive.  To put it in a few words – she is bloody sick and fighting for her life.  The best scenario right now is remission and that’s what’s going to happen – the leukemia will go into remission.  The pneumonia is a big problem as she is undergoing aggressive chemo leaving her body not much to fight the pneumonia with.  This blog is dedicated to things in life that make me smile – this latest event doesn’t make me smile but when I think of my sister-in-law – I smile.   I don’t know why we human creatures do this but when someone is really sick it’s at this time we say the things we should have said when things were well.  Let’s face it when life is good we take things for granted, but this past summer I should have said this to my sister-in-law:

I really like you

You are a bright spot in my brother’s life

You are bright, articulate and charming

You are genuine – the real deal

You can put my brother in his place like nobody else can

You have wisdom beyond your years

I completely respect the person that you are

I enjoy spending time with you

My children and husband really like you

My mother-in-law says you’re neat – which is a huge compliment

Ok – let’s face it – if I said this to her over wine she would have thought – what a weirdo and a drunk too!

The hospital that my sister-in-law is in is world renown for their treatment in cancer – so she’s in good hands.  The only thing to do is wait and pray so  here’s my open letter to God:

Dear God:

I know you can hear me and this prayer is not for myself, my husband nor my children, this prayer is for Sandra,

and I’m asking for you to take a minute out of your very busy schedule.  She’s really sick God and she needs your help,

I’ve already asked you to send angels and I think you have, as her body crashed the other night due to the rounds of chemo and

someone was there to watch over her.  Please have your angels watch over my brother as well as he is exhausted and emotionally depleted.

I know you receive thousands of prayers similar to this and I know you listen and you treat all of  your children the same.

Please add Sandra to your list of many and take care of her during this turmoil.   Please heal her body, her mind and make her

whole and well again.  Thank you for your time God as I know how much work

you have to do….

Always, it is in you I trust.

Johanne

momwhearingloss

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I’ve been gone for a little while, took a little break, been busy with the kids and trying to get some serious R & R in as well.  It’s summer, time to let my hair down and relax or so I’m trying.  I chose not to write because I needed a break from everything, but something caught my eye today – headlines in the paper:

“Mounties deny allegations in high-profile harassment lawsuit”

The Mounties have issued a sweeping denial in a high-profile sexual harassment suit by a B.C. member whose allegations prompted other women to come forward with their own claims of abuse.

Read more:   province newspaper 

Cpl. Catherine Gailliford at one time had a high-profile job with the RCMP as she was the media liaison officer during the highly public Air India case and at some point everything spiralled out of control and now claims that she was sexually harassed for decades on the job.  She filed a lawsuit and now the RCMP have filed a denial and claims that she is an alcoholic who refused treatment and had a relationship with one of the men she is accusing of sexually harassing her.  Catherine has prompted many more woman to come forward against the male brass RCMP.  The truth will be fought out in court and just maybe we will never know the truth.  All too often I read about police abuse or harassment these days and it seems to me that the incidents are happening more and more.  Maybe these incidents aren’t happening more, maybe just reported more.  We really don’t know but one thing for sure, there is a tremendous stress involved with policing today and alcohol abuse is a real factor amongst officers, women and men.  Divorce rate is extremely high in the police force and police officers seem to only have other police officers as friends.  Throw in alcohol, add woman and men who find themselves in highly pressurized situations at work and at home and trouble brews.  Exactly who is wrong or who is right is a subject of many debates around the kitchen table, but one thing for sure is there seems to be a lack of respect amongst people in general these days and certainly from all the stories I’ve read and heard the respect between men and woman is gone as well.  Respecting one another, respecting each others’ boundaries, being kind and checking one’s ego at the door would go a long way in this society.  Like Aretha says – R-E-S-P-E-C-T – find out what it means to me!