Category Archives: Love! <3

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The giving tree

We\’re finally getting scholastic at work thanks to some of my very ambitious and hard working colleagues!  When I was a child I LOVED scholastic!  I would bring home the two page selections of the month clutched in my chubby fist in the eager anticipation that my parents would let me buy a book.  Mercer Mayor books (the little critter series) and Robert Munsch being two of my favorite authors when I was a child.  I loved when the box would arrive and would dash home to get my poppa to read me a story.

I loved to read when I was a child and as an adult that\’s a love that has carried with me through the years.  So you can imagine my nostalgia excitement when the opportunity was presented to order it through work.  It was surreal, instead of sitting in the staff room it was almost as if I was transformed back 25 years sitting in class ogling over the paper dreaming about what book I wanted.  Except this time I didn\’t have to ask mom & dad for a cheque, I could write my own!  There were squeals of delight from all of us as we all seemed to be thrown back in time with the teachers picks selection which included some classic literature that we all had enjoyed as children.

So I ordered the giving tree by Shel Silverstein

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Well it came in on Friday (hooray!) and I took it home and was looking forward to having dinner with Pete and showing him my book!  So there we were sitting on my couch and we were talking and I asked him to pass me the book that was beside him.  He says:
\”looks like a children\’s book\”
\”It is, but it\’s classic literature and I love it! Have you ever read it?\”
\”no\”
\”OMFG Really? I LOVE this book! I did a video based on this in grade 9!\”

So I gave him the gist of the story and opened it up so he could see and much to my surprise and delight we sat on my couch side by side and he read it to me.

Yeah I know, makes your heart melt doesn\’t it?

Halfway through he said this is going to be sad isn\’t it?  I know it\’s going to be sad.  I assured him that it was nothing of the sort and to just keep going, somehow I knew that he would love this book as much as I did.

I was right.

After the last page was read, he buried his head in my shoulder and all was quiet for a while.  The meaning of the story is profound to some and I knew that it was as profound to him as it is to me.

Could I adore this guy any more then I do now?

I also ordered where the wild things are and he was very cute with his exclamation of:  I LOVE THIS BOOK!

Me too babe, me too.

Then we got to talking about Robert Munsch and I ordered the mini collection from Scholastic and I also ordered love you forever from Amazon and neither one of us can\’t wait to have story time again.

😉

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I have a lighter heart…

Mostly thanks to him.

Not just any him, but THE him.

Le sigh

He gives me the most amazing ideas I have ever had.  He\’s my muse, my inspiration and while he has moments of total douchbaggery (no one\’s perfect right?) I think he\’s pretty awesome and does some pretty awesome things as well!

I sent him a copy of this simply because I really liked it and I thought he would like it to:

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He passed it onto a friend.  Which gave me the idea to create the hope project.

I want to pay it forward the same way he did, only in a slightly different manner.  So I posted about it on NAOYP facebook page which I in turn cross posted to my profile.  I had gotten a comment that it was a really powerful image and it is.  Later on that night, I got a message from someone dealing with depression (including a failed suicide attempt).  This simple image moved them to tears.  They also went on to say a few other things that I won\’t/can\’t share (without their permission) and also mentioned that they were thinking about copying it and hanging it around their home.

I hope they do.

I was floored and very, very touched. 

I miss Jason A lot.  Not a day goes by that I don\’t think of him and while I wish that I still had him, in loosing him I found a purpose in life.  Or perhaps it\’s just a purpose in general.  My only goal for starting the foundation was to help even one person to not give up so that Jason\’s death wouldn\’t be in vain.

I\’ve succeeded in doing this.  I won\’t lie, it feels incredible!

I had some help along the way from Pete.  I gotta say Pete and I seem to work really well together and I\’m really happy and extremely fortunate to know him.

Together we seem to accomplish great things and I love him for it.

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IMAlive

Hopeline  (1-800-SUICIDE), along with TWLOHA are in the process of creating IMAlive which is the first ever virtual suicide prevention crisis center.  Their goal is to have every single volunteer be certified in order to help anyone out.  Which I happen to think is a brilliant idea!  Training of course will only prepare you so far for certain things but I would personally have more faith in someone that had at least some form of training as opposed to just a \”regular Joe\”.

The training is about 50 hours and is a series of courses that one is required to take in order to become certified.  While the cost isn\’t exorbitant by any means, it\’s not something I can readily afford at the moment!  Of course once I get in touch with my publisher and order proper copies of my book that will help offset the cost by a long shot!

Although it would be nice if I got a little help from my friends and readers 🙂

Remember that suicide can affect anyone at anytime.  Of course I am doing this for Jason but I\’m also doing it for me.  It\’s something I feel the need to do.  If you don\’t want to assist in sponsoring me, you can always make a one time donation to the program itself, or become a volunteer as well!

The commitment is minor (4 hours a week/per year or 8 hours a week for 6 months I think) although that minor commitment could mean the difference between life and death for some.

This could be you, your brother, sister, mother, aunt, uncle, friend…  The list goes on and on.  So if you would like to help me specifically you can do so by going here

Even if you only donate a dollar, it brings me that much closer to obtaining my goal.

Thank you!