It\’s been a year… But I\’m going to be OK.

Yesterday marked the end of a very trying year for me…

September 3rd made it a year since I lost one of my best friends.

After the way things went down before his birthday I was a little concerned.  Mostly for my own well being, never mind anyone elses…  Except for his mom, because God knows I couldn\’t bear to deal with what she went through.
And no, I could care less how selfish that sounds.  Because it IS selfish but sometimes you just need to be.  Right?
I think so.

I\’ve had a lot of insanity in my life as of late.  Things have been pretty damn good for the most part.  Except for one thing really.

I miss him…

I miss Jason too, sadly however no amount of missing him of loving him as much as I do can bring him back right?

So I did what any friend would do in times of grief.

I honed in on my sisters tattoo appointment.

Ah yes the family has landed from Ontario and as much as I do love them, it\’s been a tad trying at best.  My sister wanted the ultimate souvenir that she could keep forever and ever.  So I gave her Gil\’s phone number and told her to make an appointment, which she did for September 3rd 2010.  Jason\’s one year anniversary.  So I told her that I was coming with, because I decided at the last minute that I needed to get tattooed that day.

So I did.

I\’m not going to get into the details of it just now, because well it\’s not even a full 24 hours old yet and I don\’t have a decent picture of them all.  Yes ALL as in more then one.

I got five.

Because sometimes one, just isn\’t enough.  They\’re not very large, cater to Jason and I\’s nerdy side but the significance of each one has more impact then a fleet of mac trucks.  4 of them are symbolic of certain things and one, the one I favor the most out of them all represents a turning point in my life.

I learned how to live again.

And you know what?

It feels pretty damn good!

?

So I wrote a book…

It\’s FINALLY DONE!

\"\"

You can get FREE shipping until August 31st!

here\’s the low down on this book deal:
It\’s printed on demand, I don\’t physically have any copies in my possession at the moment. So in order to buy/have one you do need to order it online through blurb who offers self publishing.
Until August 31st they have free flat rate shipping.

\”Choose Ground or Economy shipping, type in the appropriate promo code below at checkout, click apply, and you’re set:

USD $ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE
GPB £ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE1
EUR € coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE2
AUD $ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE3
CAD $ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE4

*Free flat-rate shipping offer valid through August 31, 2010 (11:59 pm PDT). Offer covers Ground/Economy shipping costs up to US $6.99, GBP £3.99, EUR €5.99, CAD $7.99, or AUD $9.99 for books in one order, shipped to one address. This offer is good for one-time use and cannot be combined with other promotional codes or used for adjustments on previous orders. This offer can be combined with volume order discounts.

How to Redeem These Special Offers
To take advantage of this special offer, enter the promotion code on the payment options screen at checkout.\”

I got screwed out of this one last night when I ordered my copy, because I didn\’t notice it until after I paid (of course >.<) because God Forbid they just add it automatically…

If you non Montreal-er\’s want it signed, feel free to ship it to me (my work actually) and I\’ll sign it and mail it back to you 🙂

Of course you can purchase it here

Out with the old…

In with a new start and a foundation to boot!  Who knew?  So that\’s it, I finally achieved something.

Kinda.

I\’ve been talking about starting Jason\’s foundation for a while now.  I finally made it happen.   Now I just need to get the last piece of government approval and a notary to get the ball truly rolling.

I opted not to wait for government approval before getting started because things need to change NOW.

Like yesterday.

I lost 10 months of my life to grief, needless to say, I\’m in a bit of a hurry.

I\’m looking forward to this new journey, hoping that only good things will emerge.

Maybe.

Only time will tell…

I\’m breaking up with you!

Dear Grief

How have you been doing?  Hanging out, making my life miserable?  Anything else new and exciting?  I just wanted to let you know that we\’re done.  Yep you read that right, its over between you and me.  I have good things in my life and some seriously bitching people as well.  Yet there you are hovering above my sub-conscious mind like the most epic natural disaster waiting to strike someone me dead.

Except I\’m not going to let you.

I\’m tired of you bringing me down.  I don\’t like you, as a matter of fact I can\’t say I ever did.  I don\’t hate anyone or anything.  As a matter of fact I accept that you will turn up in my life once again.  However next time can it be for a reasonable explanation?  Not because one of my friends decided that it was OK to play God and in turn break mine & countless other people\’s hearts.  That would be fabulous.  I hope that isn\’t too much to ask for.

I decided that I want my life back, so you know what?

I\’m going to take it.

Sincerely, Steph

Dear Broken heart,

I think it\’s time you and I had a chat about this whole being broken thing.  It\’s pretty sad when I can say to someone :\”You can\’t break my heart because it\’s already broken.\”  I have a problem with that, not to mention feeling dead inside.  So you along with your friend grief, no longer have a place in my life anymore.  I know you and that bastard grief will team up and invade my life once again.  Possibly you\’ll just show up on your own making me wish that I was a little girl again because:

Skinned knees are easier to heal then a broken heart.

However times have changed and I need to move on.  I\’ve gathered up all the pieces that are left, knowing that it will never look/feel/be the same again.  I have learned to accept this for what it is because there\’s nothing I can do to replace the pieces that were destroyed in your last crusade.  I can however take a long hard look at the pieces that are left and possibly make them resemble something spectacular.  Oh I know that you\’ll come around one day again and destroy my work of art that I have spent the better part of 9 months slaving over.  However in the meantime, I can take what I learned from this whole experience and turn it into something meaningful, special and beautiful.  You can\’t take that away from me.  Even if its only that way to me.  Because really I\’m the only one who matters in this relationship anymore.

I however have news for you; aside from some extreme circumstances I don\’t think that it\’s possible for me to ever hurt that much ever again and I am more then OK with that as a matter of fact.  Because I got through this and even though I totally underestimated the possibility of actually dying from a broken heart, I now fully acknowledge that it is entirely possible.

Only if you let it.

I however can\’t let you do that, so this is where you and I part ways.  We are done and when the time comes that you and I shall meet again I might not be ready and I sure as hell won\’t be waiting but I\’ll know deep down that somewhere, somehow I\’ll make it through and come out on top.  Somewhere, somehow I will find the strength.  I can\’t let you defeat me, it\’s a matter of principal really.

Drop dead.

Love, Steph.

Dear people in my life who suck,

I guess I should \”man up\” and tell you all of this separately face to face but that takes too much time and effort.  You see I\’m busy trying to live again.  Refer to Dear Grief, Dear Broken heart if you don\’t understand this statement.

Quite simply, you have proven to me that you have no place in my life anymore.  That\’s right your actions or lack thereof have brought you to this point.  It\’s really not anything personal, I just decided to do a clean sweep.  You see after September 3rd 2009 my life changed drastically.  You weren\’t there for me when I needed someone the most.  Perhaps what I went through scared the shit out of you, that\’s fine.

Try living through it.

I have since discovered that the people who belong in my life are the one\’s who will let me indulge in my tears and offer me their shoulder to cry on.  The one\’s who wouldn\’t let me sit on my ass at home and cry because they were too worried to leave me alone and out of their sight.  I\’m glad they did, those days were some of the happiest times I have ever had and I\’ll cherish them.  The people who stuck by me as I slugged through the worst period of my life and didn\’t run off because I had far too much emotional baggage yet they still recognized that I had space left for them in my life regardless.  The one\’s who reminded me and continue to remind me that Rome wasn\’t built in a day, who wholly support my foundation to honour the passing of one of the most selfless people I have ever had the privilege to know.

The people who encouraged me when I said I was breaking up with grief, the people who told me that it was still \”new\”/hadn\’t been that long and it was OK to cry, scream and yell.

Those people are the people I want in my life.  People who in spite of myself somehow love me to pieces even when I know personally that I\’m a hard person to love, even the one\’s that don\’t; I still know that they\’ll stand by me and care.  Which is exactly what I need the most.

Which is why we are done now.  I\’m sorry it had to be this way, however actions will always speak louder then words to me.  Its been your actions that led me to this decision and I\’m not sorry that I had to let you go because you were sadly just weighing me down.  I hope you understand that I refuse to drown.

Here\’s to no more failing in life,

Steph