I started writing this blahg in June and now it’s the 7th day of July and you’re probably wondering what I’ve been up to or maybe you could care less. Well, either way, I’m going to provide an update. I don’t want to ramble on about the Polymyalgia Rheumatica. I still have the muscle pain but my Doctor and a specialist don’t think it’s PMR. I’ve been up and down with the medication and Doc has put me back up again so they can ween me off and then the specialist can see if it comes back and if he can figure out what this ailment is.
I had one goal in mind while on the Prednisone medication other than pain relief. That goal was to be able to walk and to specifically be able to walk my daughter Emily down the aisle on June 1st. It was a tough road but I made it and you can see by the new picture that I accomplished my goal. It’s been a tough year losing my Father and then a tragedy at work. Then the universe decided to throw in this mysterious illness so I had to pin my sights on one thing and tether myself to it. Emily’s wedding was the tether. It was a beautiful day and the rain held off and the ceremony and reception were awesome.
I’m not going to talk about anything else in this blahg. I’m going to share some photos and videos from that happy day. I know, it’s truly self-serving but the focus on the wedding kept me going and I’ll ride that for a while. Check out some of these beautiful photos and don’t forget to click on each image to see a bigger and clearer image in a new tab.
This is a really nice photo of my three children together. Abbie, Emily, and Noah:
I know it’s true nepotism but I had to share all of these photos. Here’s a nice one of Abbie and I that we took with my cell phone and played around with a black and white drawing filter to get what we wanted:
There aren’t many photos of Noah but he was taking a lot of photos and he did some video with his cell phone. Here are a couple of videos shot by Noah. The first is the wedding party coming in. The DJ asked us to ham it up. The second is a nice video of Emily and I dancing to Frank Sinatra singing the song “Emily”.
I think I gave a good speech at the wedding that summed up my road to being able to get to the wedding. I wish I had a copy of Charlie’s vows, which I reference in my speech, because he talks about an experience that challenged him and how he came back from it to discover Emily is the love of his life. I’m no Charlie but I think I hold my own in this speech:
Noah also shot some nice Super 8mm silent film at the wedding and I’m posting that below:
I think that’s it today. I’m a proud papa. I’m proud of all three of my children and my new son-in-law. I’m going to ride this wave of pride for a while. I’m on holidays in a couple of weeks so I hope to post a new blahg. Watch for it.
I know. It’s that title thing. What does PMR even mean? In my case you can almost be certain that it could stand for Personal Musings Rant. In fact, the PMR actually stands for something in particular but could mean several things. I thought I’d start off explaining how this came about and then have a little fun with it. So, this is going to start off as a Private Misery Rant but will morph into a Pun Making Ramble. Let’s get started.
Like other times when my blahgs have skipped a period of time, this one has a back story. About two months ago I thought I had the flu because I felt achy all over and that became serious pain in all my muscles. I took two days off of work and then the pain became so intense that my wife had to drive me to the hospital in the middle of the night. The on-call Doctor would diagnose me with Myositis which she felt was a result of a recent bout of flu. I was given a prescription of 600mg Ibuprofen and sent home. For two days I felt better. Then the pain came back again. Both of my legs and my left shoulder were so painful that I had problems sleeping at night. I couldn’t get my arm into a comfortable position and my legs pained so much that it was also like restless leg syndrome.
Ten days of the pain and not sleeping well and I was exhausted. I had to sleep in a spare room in the house because I was keeping my wife awake. I kept getting up in the morning to go to work but things did not get better. Finally, two weeks ago, my wife took me back to the hospital and I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica; also known as PMR. So what’s the difference between Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Myositis? You tell me. Here’s an online description for Myositis from http://www.webmd.com:
Myositis refers to any condition causing inflammation in muscles. Weakness, swelling, and pain are the most common myositis symptoms. Myositis causes include infection, injury, autoimmune conditions, and drug side effects.
Now from that same webside is the information on Polymyalgia Rheumatica:
Polymyalgia rheumatica is a rare, inflammatory condition that causes pain or stiffness in the large muscle groups, especially around the shoulders and hips. Other symptoms of the condition may include fatigue, a general feeling of illness, and weight loss. Despite the name, polymyalgia rheumatica is not related to rheumatoid arthritis. Some patients also have temporal arteritis, which causes inflammation that damages arteries. Corticosteroids are used in the treatment of both conditions, for which there is no known cause.
I think the difference here is that PMR has no known cause and the treatment is different. I was given a prescription for Prednisone which is a form of steroid treatment. It worked well within the first few days and significantly decreased the pain. I could walk better and started to be able to sleep and could put my own socks on. Unfortunately I have been on it for two weeks now and it takes longer to kick in and doesn’t last as long. Mornings are the worst with leg, thigh, and hip pain that still makes it difficult to put on my own socks. I’ll be going back to my Doctor this week for a follow-up. I guess I’ll be hearing my Personal MD Recommendation. I know, that one’s kind of a cheat but it fits.
Now to move off of this and on to some fun. The first time I started thinking about this blahg and parodying PMR, I had an idea for Please Milk Responsibly. It conjured up images for me of a poor cow being milked by a farmer with cold hands. The internet is such a great place for research because if you can imagine it, there’s probably a graphic out there for your imagination. The cartoon on the left was exactly what I had in mind.
Of course I sometimes have too much time on my hands. Another thought I had was to dispel the myth that Poetry Must Rhyme. I have published some of my poems in previous blahgs over the years and in my last blahg, ME AND MY GRIEF, I posted a new poem called “when my father died”. Writing is a way of release and certainly I’ve demonstrated that my poems don’t always rhyme. I found a poem in one of my old journals that I wrote on April 12th, 1992. It’s about my wife and was written after we’d been married for five years. It doesn’t rhyme and the sentiment is still felt today:
I’m rememberin’ a girl who could raise hackles
I’m rememberin’ a girl
who could raise hackles
in humans?
and as I remember
she turns to me half asleep
and kisses my back
where I think my hackles must be
So what’s next? How about a Personal Music Request? I might want to also include this in my next section which, spoiler, is Private Movie Recommendation. Recently, I saw the movie “The Greatest Showman” starring Hugh Jackman. I wasn’t sure what to think because I had heard mixed reviews. Mixed Reviews? Could we say, Possible Mixed Reviews. I had to sneak that one in. No PMR here for “The Greatest Showman”. I loved it. The story was good the music was phenomenal. I had to go out the next day and buy the soundtrack. One of my favourite songs from the movie is “Never Enough” which appears to be sung by Rebecca Ferguson, as the character Jenny Lind, but is in fact dubbed by Loren Allred. Here’s an amazing video of Lauren Allred actually singing the song live:
What an amazing performance. Performance Majestically Recommended. This is too easy.
I gave away this next section in the last part when I stated it would be a Private Movie Recommendation. I was recently having a conversation with my friend Bryan on the occasion of his birthday. We talked about movies that we would always stay up to watch when we were younger no matter when they aired. The list I came up with aren’t popular movies but include ones that are of a guilty please. Here’s my list:
The Magic Sword 1962
Killdozer 1974
I Love A Mystery 1967/1973
Hello Down There 1969
These films always kept my interest and over the years, I’ve tried to find and re-watch them. Everything but “I Love A Mystery” has had a DVD release but there’s a rumor (Possible Media Rumor) that it too has had a release. Check out these images of the DVD releases. The possible release of “I Love A Mystery” (filmed in 1967 and not aired until 1973) is as a bonus movie on the “I Love A Mystery The Film Collection.” If anyone can confirm that, let me know.
I’m not sure where to go next as the PMR spin could go one for a long time if I set my mind to it. Possibly More Rhetoric could be derived. Passable Musings Require more thought. However, People Might Rebel if this continues. Maybe I should just quit while I’m ahead. Pen My Resignation. At least my PMR pain has subsided for now. But the pain of some of these Puns Might Remain. Of course there’s no cure for that.
Be forewarned that this blahg is going to be strictly Canadiana. I know that the last few blahgs have featured some notable Canadian music by Pat Riccio, The Bridge City Dixieland Jazz Band, and Pete Schofield and the Canadians so this blahg won’t be any different. But it is! This blahg is dedicated to Paul Quarrington. That’s his picture on the right instead of mine. Paul was a brilliant musician and writer. Don’t take my word for it, look it up or don’t look it up. But take my word for it even after I said don’t.
The inspiration for this blahg came last week when the song “Fictional World” by the band Porkbelly Futures played in the rotation on my Ipod. Paul Quarrington was a member of that band and I believe he sang lead on the song. I could be wrong about that but I met Paul Quarrington at a book reading about 10 years ago in Picton, Ontario and he sang that song. I didn’t realize it was 10 years ago but I knew Paul had died of lung cancer not that long ago but when I looked it up I was shocked to find he had died in 2010. It didn’t seem that long ago to me. So, I became inspired to write this blahg celebrating Paul Quarrington and my connection to him.
My journey with Paul Quarrington started in 1979. That year, a track by the duo Quarrington – Worthy used to play on a local radio station. I think that station was 98.3 CFLY out of Kingston, Ontario. The song was “Baby And The Blues” and it probably played in rotation on that station for about 6 months. That was back when Canadian content was bigger than it is today. I didn’t even know then that the full names of the duo were Paul Quarrington and Martin Worthy. I also didn’t know that the song was from their self-titled LP “Quarrington-Worthy” on the Posterity Records label. I own a 45 rpm of two other songs from that album that I purchased in 1980. There is a picture of my 45 to the left. It is signed by Paul Quarrington but more about that later. You can also see that it is dated March 26, 1980. I think that’s when I bought it at Sam The Record Man in Belleville. Once a big chain across Canada, Belleville has the last Sam The Record Man store still in existence.
If you looked closely at the picture of the 45 above (click it to get a larger image) then you would have seen that the songs on the single were attributed to being from LP “Quarrington/Worthy” PTR 13012. I think that was the first time I discovered the name of the album. I began my search for the record but I think it was the mid 1980s before I was able to acquire the LP. I had been looking for it for a while and that was pre-Internet and pre-Ebay days so if you didn’t find it in a store then you were out of luck. Luckily, there was a guy named Paul Cowan who ran a used record store in Belleville. I asked him to keep an eye for it. Eventually he found it for me in a discount bin at a local Woolworth or Kresge department store. Alas, like Cowan, his Zap Record store, all of the Sam The Record Man stores, Woolworth and Kresge are long gone. To the right is the front cover for the record and to the left is the rear cover. Both images were pulled off the internet but I’m adding a picture of the back cover scanned from my own copy because it is signed by Paul Quarrington. He signed it over his picture when I saw him last in Picton.
Now, at this point you would have thought that was it for my story about Paul Quarrington. You’d be wrong. It’s so nice to say when someone else is wrong because then I don’t have to say I’m wrong. But I digress. Before I continue, let me first give you a link to listen to the song “Baby And The Blues”:
Here’s a link to another great song from the album:
THUNDERTOWN:
So, I finally had the LP! Hooray! But wait, there was another LP. I didn’t know it then but there was an LP that preceded the Quarrington-Worthy album. I found it a few years after Cowan had supplied me with that album. The new album was also found in a discount bin but this time by me. It was an album by Paul Quarrington’s brother Tony Quarrington titled “Top Ten Written All Over It” What a fun title. Tony’s album came out in 1978 and featured songs written by Tony but not all songs on that record had Tony singing lead. Paul Quarrington sang lead on some and Martin Worthy sang lead on others with the rest by Tony with harmonies from Paul and Martin. Give a listen to one of my favorites from the LP, “Atlanta”:
Here’s another one but this time it’s a swinger:
STREETCAR ANGEL:
Again, at this point you would have thought that was it for my story about Paul Quarrington. You’d be wrong again. I’m not gloating. Now things begin to switch away from the music. It was 1987 and I was recently married and Jeanette and I were living in Peterborough. We liked to walk through and shop at the Eatons’ store in the Peterborough Square mall. Sadly, Eatons is gone now too. Well, when it was open, I was shopping there with Jeanette and I happened to notice a book on the discount table (again Paul’s stuff was discounted). The name of the book was “Home Game” by Paul Quarrington. The name struck me because I knew it from the Quarrington-Worthy LP and there couldn’t be two Paul Quarringtons. After checking the dust-jacket it confirmed this was the musical Paul Quarrington. Here’s the synopsis of the novel from the dust jacket:
In this story of a marooned circus sideshow troupe, a former baseball hero, and a Michigan village dominated by a fundamentalist religious sect, the author confronts some of the highest as well as the least desirable aspects of human motivation. One group passionately wishes the expulsion of the other, self-righteously condemning them as immoral, and inhuman. But in the organization and training of the baseball team, and during the subsequent game where the issue will be decided, we learn that despite all appearances, these eccentric characters ultimately cannot deny the humanity that makes all of them members of a single team.
Home Game is a moving and very hilarious book. It runs about 400 pages and captures you in the story. I’ve always described this book to anyone who would listen as a baseball game between a group of religious fanatics and some circus freaks. If that’s doesn’t pique your interest then I don’t know what will. When I last saw Paul in Picton I finally got him to autograph Home Game for me. I’ll speak about that meeting in a bit but if you can lay your hands on Home Game then read it. It’s not just a recommendation, it’s life advice.
Paul Quarrington continued to write more novels after “Home Game” which originally came out in 1983. He followed “Home Game” with “The Life of Hope” in 1985, “King Leary” in 1987, “Whale Music” in 1989, “Logan In Overtime” in 1990, “Civilization” in 1994, “The Spirit Cabinet” in 1999, “Galveston” in 2004, and finally “The Ravine” in 2008. I’ve read them all. He also wrote “The Service” in 1978 but I’ve never tracked it down so I don’t know anything about it. “King Leary” won the Stephen Leacock Award in 1988, and “Whale Music” won the 1989 Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Paul was also nominated for the Leacock Award in 1984 for “Home Game” in 1986 for “The Life of Hope” in 1990 for “Whale Music” and in 1998 for “The Boy on the Back of the Turtle”. That last title is one of his non-fiction works. I haven’t read that one but I have read the non-fiction “Fishing With My Old Guy” 1995 and “Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life” 2010.
I don’t read modern fiction much. I can’t tell you the last time I read a current novel unless it was “The Ravine” from 2008. Paul was my favorite novelist. I miss him and I miss his writing. I think no one else has written anything new that gives me the joy I would get from reading a Paul Quarrington novel. That’s sad. It makes me miss Paul Quarrington even more.
Paul also wrote screenplays. Among them was “Perfectly Normal” from 1990 and the screenplay for his own “Whale Music” which came out in 1994. It was the film “Perfectly Normal” that allowed me to have my first meeting with Paul. The Quinte Film Alternative in Belleville gave a showing of “Perfectly Normal” and Paul Quarrington was in attendance. I remember walking up to the front of the theater and there was Paul. I was excited to meet him and I brought along my 45 rpm record of “Montego Bay” and “Wilfred” for him to sign. You can see that autograph above. Afterwards there was some meet and greet with Paul at someone’s loft downtown Belleville. It was around the time that “Civilization” came out because I remember talking to him about it. I think I was the only person who talked to him about his novels or his music. The room was full of pretentious people from the Quinte Film Alternative and I was surprised to learn none of them had read any of his novels. I only got to spend a few minutes with him but it was a pleasure. That was around 1994 or 1995.
I didn’t see Paul Quarrington again until after “The Ravine” came out in 2008. I can’t remember if I met him again in 2008 or 2009 but it was that time I spoke about in Picton. He was there for a local authors’ festival and he read excerpts from “The Ravine” and he sang a couple of songs from the new Porkbelly Futures CD, including “Fictional World” which was the inspiration for this blahg:
That night, I also had Paul sign my LP and my copy of “Home Game”. I told him my story about being a music fan of his and then picking up “Home Game” in Peterborough. He liked my story and said the LP was now a bit of a rarity. What I didn’t know at the time was that less than two years later Paul would be dead from Lung Cancer.
After Paul died I remember driving my daughter home from University in Toronto and hearing the following song on the radio. I immediately recognized the voice and was confirmed when the DJ said the song had been by Paul Quarrington. It’s a beautiful song that Paul wrote in his final year and it really speaks about his preparing to die. It’s called “Are You Ready?” The great Dan Hill sings harmonies with Paul.
During his final year of life, Paul wrote and recorded songs, including “Are You Ready?” for a CD called “The Songs”. Martin Worthy also appears on the CD. Paul would also write and record some more songs with Porkbelly Futures also with Martin Worthy. “Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life” was published posthumously and talks about his music and books. It was the last great read I had from Paul. Both the CD “The Songs” and “Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life” are great companion pieces and summarize a life that ended too soon by a great author and singer/songwriter.
How to do I end a blahg after all of that? I’ll let Paul close it with another great song from his CD, “All The Stars.” Are you ready? I believe I am.
This will be a quick self-serving blahg. Hopefully, I’ll have a longer one for you next week. Presented below is a wonderful video that my 16 year old daughter, Abbie, put together for a school project. I had not seen the video until it was presented at an “Arts Night” at her school and the audience reception was amazing. Proud Papa presents, an Abbie Henderson original production, “Soup & Sandwich: A Love Story”
I, of course, had nothing to do with this production except by nature of being father of the genius behind it. I’ll throw some credit to her mother as well. See ya, next time.
So, hurl your insults now. It’s been more than a month since my last blahg and no blahg in March! I know, I know! I’ve been trying to think about a topic for a new blahg but it just hasn’t come to me. My head’s an empty vessel. There, I beat you to the insult! I couldn’t even get out an April Fool’s Day blahg. I had nothing to pull from my hat of tricks. So this blahg is going to be a mishmash of things. I don’t even know what all will be in here so let’s enjoy the ride together.
Over this past month we’ve celebrated a few things. Noah turned 19 on March 25th. Now he can legally smoke, drink, and buy lottery tickets in Ontario. Sure, all the things I don’t want him to do and he can argue it by saying he’s just following the letter of the law. We also celebrated Easter. I’ve got a cute video to show you about Easter but that’s a little later. Emily, our oldest daughter, got a full-time good paying job in Toronto. I’m happy and sad all at the same time. This means she won’t be coming back to live with us but will only be visiting when she comes here. Can she even call this home, anymore? I also discovered some long lost family videos and I thought I would post a few here.
First up is a video of Abbie singing “When Somebody Loved Me” from Toy Story 2. It was performed at a talent showcase at our local church in Demorestville in 2004. Abbie, who was 5 at the time, is accompanied by Emily, 13, on the piano.
Next up, from the same talent showcase in 2004 is my son Noah and I performing the Abbott & Costello routine, “Jonah and the Whale”. Unfortunately there’s a slight splice in the middle and our tape ran out before the entire routine could be recorded. Noah was 10 at the time and I was 41, but who’s counting? In our version, Noah realizes he’s given himself away when I reveal the punchline of the joke. He runs off the stage crying and saying he wants his mommy.
Here’s the original Abbott & Costello routine.
I wanted to try and find a video that would present Emily with some justice. There are plenty of videos when she was little and an only child…until Noah and Abbie were born. These just wouldn’t do because that’s not who Emily is now. She’s a young professional adult with a job and who will soon graduate. Yes, I know, for most students that happens the other way around. She’s matured so much in the past few years and I recall a slideshow I did a few years ago as a present to my wife. It was pictures of each of the children presented in a music video format set to different songs. I think this one of Emily is the best one suited to Emily. The pictures are of Emily and the music is “Suddenly, I See” by K T Tunstall.
Before, I leave the subject of home videos, I really like this one of all my children. It is also from the slideshow DVD I presented to my wife. The pictures are of Emily, Noah, and Abbie and the song is “Your Life Is Now” by John Mellencamp.
Moving right along, but still related to videos, recently, about last weekend, I bought a handful of records at a local thrift shop. One of these records was a bootleg of The Andrews Sisters. I like their singing and the album promised live versions of songs from various TV and Radio shows. I gave it a listen and was pleasantly surprised to hear The Andrews Sisters performing some of the hits of The Supremes. The Andrews Sisters is really the first important girl trio but you cannot discount the appeal of The Supremes. When I started researching these tracks, I found they were taken from a Sammy Davis Jr. TV show in 1966 and not only did The Andrews Sisters perform the hits of The Supremes but The Supremes performed the hits of The Andrews Sisters! And if that’s not enough for you, here’s a video of those performances.
I lied about getting off the subject of home videos. Here’s that cute Easter video I promised. Abbie once again and I’ll close with that..
On Sunday, September 23rd, 2012, I will turn 50.This will be the last blahg I write before I reach my half century age.When I started doing this in September of 2011, I had hoped to write 100 blahgs before my next birthday.I then settled for 50 blahgs which would correspond to almost one blahg a week.The grand total, including this one, after a year of writing, is 20.That’s a new blahg every 18.25 days.I don’t know if that’s good or bad.Maybe I was unrealistic with my 100 or 50 expectations.Time is a precious commodity and things happen that prevent me from meeting my goals.Many of my previous blahgs have spoken about these things that happen.This blahg will not be an exception.
The last blahg, HELLO WASHINGTON, GOODBYE “THE LIFE OF RILEY” detailed our trip to Washington and back.It did not tell you what happened after the trip was over.We had left our three cats, Patches, June, and Frank locked safely in the house with lots of food and water for the three or four days we were gone.When we returned, we discovered that June was missing.She had managed to pick a hole in a second story screen window and had dropped to a lower roof and then the grass.It had taken a few hours of searching before we found her hiding in a wood pile at the side of our garage.She was fine and was returned to the house.Patches, however, presented us with a more difficult situation.She was eleven years old and incontinent but I still loved her.Over the four days we were gone, she developed a tumor on her stomach and by the size of it, it looked like it was ready to burst.
In a previous blahg I spoke about a cat named Panama that we had a few years ago.She too, developed a serious tumor in the same body region as Patches.We had had to do the humane thing and put Panama down.This was the same situation with Patches; we had to opt for euthanasia so that she would not suffer.The veterinarian agreed with our decision.It was very difficult for me to take Patches to the veterinarian’s office and have this done.I won’t deny that I cried.I made a decision after leaving the office I would purchase a new kitten to help transition us through this difficult time.We would miss Patches but we still had a home and love to give to a third kitten.I went to a local pet store that acquired their kittens through a local Animal Welfare Society.I thought that would be best because a rescued kitten deserves to be adopted.This is how we had acquired June originally and everything has worked out with her.
I have written a little bit before about our new kitten, Stella so I will quote from that blahg:“We recently adopted a new kitten. It’s been about twelve years since we’ve had a kitten in our home and Abbie, being the youngest child, has never had the chance to name one of our cats. I named Frank, the subject of a previous blahg “The Christmas Cat” and before that, June was already adopted pre-named. She was adopted from Robyn’s Nest in Picton, Ontario. This store adopts out animals that have been brought into the local animal welfare society so it’s only fitting that we provided a home for a rescued kitten. I don’t know the story behind our kitten but she was either brought into the local shelter or was born there. She has made a loving addition to our home and after two days, Abbie provided her with the name “Stella”. She’s very playful and she likes to sleep on me early in the morning. She is so small that I don’t feel her walking up me while I’m sleeping.”
It is with great sadness that I update that blahg entry to say that two weeks ago, we had to have Stella euthanized.We had only had her for two months.In the beginning she was very small and very playful but as she aged, she hardly grew in size.By the end of the summer, when she should have been four months old, she was not much bigger than when she came to us.She also began to lose her energy and sleep more as if she was an elderly cat.Her stomach also began to be extended.Naturally we were concerned.We took her to the veterinarian only to discover that Stella was very anemic and her blood counts were very low.She also had a very high fever.We didn’t understand everything but we knew this was very serious.The veterinarian thought it might be a parasite and provided us with liquid medication to give to Stella and to follow up with another visit in a week’s time.
Over that week, Stella’s energy returned and her fever subsided.Unfortunately her stomach distension continued and she had a hard time carrying around the extra weight.She would still climb up on the bed in the morning to wake me but it came at great difficulty for her.We contacted the veterinarian and took her back in.The news was not good.They believed that Stella had tumors and her new blood tests showed that her blood counts were worse.They said she would not live another week and recommended euthanasia.I knew this would be best for Stella and took her into another room for a few quiet minutes.I kissed her and thanked her for coming into our life.That is all I will say other than I miss her dearly.
Continuing on with this sad theme, I want to relate something I discovered yesterday.I think I have mentioned before that I attended Quinte Secondary School and Trent University.If I haven’t mentioned that then take note because it’s important.Yesterday we received our Trent Alumni magazine that we receive a few times a year.There are always updates about current Trent activities and updates on previous Trent alumni.There’s always somebody getting married or having a baby or working somewhere significant.Occasionally they report on the deaths of some alumni.Yesterday, there was a death notice.I’ll repeat it verbatim:
Sherry Ann Lewis (née Cornwall) ’82 died on March 17 at the age of 49, surrounded by her family, after a sudden battle with cancer.From Belleville, Ontario, she came to Trent for an Honours Business degree, and then built a successful career in Ontario and, for the past 20 years, in Calgary.A memorial Mass was held in Belleville on July 14.If friends wish, please donate to the Gleaners Food Bank in Sherry’s memory.Condolences may be sent to www.rememberingsherry.ca.
I had known this person and now she was gone.
I can only say that I was not a close friend to Sherry. We had both attended Quinte Secondary School and shared some classes and occasionally I would run into her at Trent despite not being in the same program.She always had an infectious smile and sing-song sort of voice that always gave out with kind words.I wish I had known her better.The last time I saw her was almost thirty years ago.She was waitressing at The Duke of Beaufort Pub in Belleville.She was still very pretty and still had a kind word.
I have been very sad since reading of her passing.Last night and today, I could not get Sherry out of my mind.I even visited the remembrance web-site mentioned in her obituary.It is full of photos of her over the years.Most were of her adult married life and I knew nothing of that.I didn’t know her husband and I didn’t know her children.I guess I’m grieving that someone my own age is gone and it’s too soon.I know I’m turning 50 on Sunday but that’s too young to start having people your own age dying.She was an old memory and I thought of her often because she was a pretty girl and remember being attracted to her.I’m glad she had a good life. I do not have any photos of Sherry other than the one in my High-school yearbook. I am borrowing this photo from her remembrance site because it immediately reminded me of the face of Sherry I remember. I hope her family is okay with this.
My fondest memory of Sherry was from our grade 10 English class with Mr. Thompson.She arrived late one day and apologized for having slept in.She added that Mr. Thompson should not consider her late for today but early for tomorrow.She got away with it.Sadly, she was early again this time for her own funeral.People joke that a certain person would be late for his/her own funeral.I’d take that.I’d rather be late and cheat death as long as I can than to die too soon.Sherry left this world too soon.Old memories stay with us the longest and I’m sure I’ll remember Sherry for a long time.
and you’re probably wondering what I’ve been up to or maybe you could care less. Well, either way, I’m going to provide an update. I don’t want to ramble on about the Polymyalgia Rheumatica. I still have the muscle pain but my Doctor and a specialist don’t think it’s PMR. I’ve been up and down with the medication and Doc has put me back up again so they can ween me off and then the specialist can see if it comes back and if he can figure out what this ailment is.
