Almost 7 hours ago, at the time I started writing this, she passed. You may be reading this hours, days or years later. You may have had a friend or family member pass too. Maybe it was recently or some long time ago. Perhaps it’s in the known future. If so, you know what I’m talking about and how this feels.
Death is a tricky thing. I feel as though we try to keep the topic at bay, as if we’re going to catch it ourselves. Otherwise we might launch into dark humour or bravado. We tend not to spend a lot of time discussing it, so many of us are not particularly well versed in the dos and donts and best practices.
She said in some ways she was lucky. She could have been hit by a bus and never had a chance to say or hear goodbyes. She was pragmatic with a good sense of humour…
Well we’ve had some, though not much, time to say goodbyes. We even had a Zoom Celebrity Toast in her honour on Monday night. That was quite a beautiful and lovely event. Some fabulous friends organised that and many other things. Hearing how she touched the lives of so many people from around the world was wonderful and inspiring.
Why do we wait to have an event like that? Or never have it, at least when the person is alive?
We were at university together, and on the AIESEC exec team, back in the 1900’s. It was ‘93-‘94 to be precise. So almost thirty years ago.
We were more in touch again these last couple of years, which was nice. It’s a nice thing to chat more with friends from long ago. Contact one today and just say hi. See where it goes.
She recently returned to Canada to spend her final weeks with family and dear friends. She decided on the date and time of passing. You can do that in Canada.
So today, spare a thought for someone you would miss and tell them something nice about themselves. And think of someone who has passed too.
This note is in fond memory of Christina Bowe of Peterborough Ontario (also Ottawa, Vancouver and London/Maidenhead, England)