'Goodbye Little Brother'...'Welcome Sweet Daughter'.

This week I ended up going down to Toronto last minute with a friend who was going down for a conference and asked me if I would like to tag along.

I was super stoked to see a couple of people who I haven't seen since I was in Toronto last year, and one of those people is an old friend who just had a baby a couple of weeks ago.

Little did I know while heading down that this would be a trip to learn some lessons on as too.

My friend and I checked into our hotel on Tuesday evening, at around 7:30pm. We chilled for a bit and went to bed pretty early because she had to get up early for her conference.

I called everyone I wanted to see the next day to solidify plans, including my friend who is a new mom. When I called her I got the horrible news that her little brother was gunned down in a home invasion and he was pronounced dead at the hospital. This happened at around the same time we got into Toronto the night before.

I know that it is customary to speak kindly of the dead {especially if they were murdered and died before their time}, so customary that it is probably a cliché...but her little brother was an awesome person, and he surely did not deserve to be murder by a band of thugs.

My friend understandably had to be with her family that day, so we ended up going by to visit her on our way back to the Bay on Thursday evening.

I met her beautiful baby girl and we cried together for her little brother. I noted that my friend really is holding it together for her family and for her new child.

Just before we left, my friend looked at picture of her brother and said, ‘Goodbye little Brother’.

Then she looked down at her child and said ‘Welcome sweet Daughter’.

My friend is an inspiring woman. Just by being with her for from that too short a visit I learnt that no matter what is thrown at you, you can still be strong if you need to be. I learnt that I need to stop being drowned in self-pity and get on with it.

If a woman who just lost a loved one to a vicious murder can still feel blessed, then surely I have no reason not to.

My heart goes out to her and her family, and she also has my eternal thanks.

Sláinte!

Laurel