Yesterday 26 March I attended the celebration of life of LoisR of Chilliwack. Lois was mere days from her 100th birthday. Her niece JN, a good friend of mine and AE's, had the awful task of being the executrix and planning the celebration of life. Mere weeks ago she had the (likely) pleasant task of planning her 100th birthday.
Lois never married and JN became her surrogate daughter. I know this, because several people said so at the celebration of life.
Lois and JN's late mother Phyllis were fraternal twins, so there was an extra connection that only a twin can truly appreciate.
JN often took the bus (or rather buses) from her home in the city of Vancouver to Lois's home in Chilliwack. A feat in itself. AE and I offered our home for her to stay overnight so she did not have to make the round trip in a single day, but we were not able to make this offer until we ourselves had moved to the eastern valley in mid 2021.
JN is a sensitive soul and it must have been truly devastating to go from the heights of planning such an auspicious happy milestone as a 100th birthday (and JN would have planned every detail) to planning a funeral.
When Lois became very ill and it looked like she was not going to make 100, it pained JN to cancel the birthday cake. Considering she was the executrix and took in on herself to plan the celebration of life, I consider cancelling the birthday cake to be the least of the many issues. But each item I might consider to be merely pedestrian, JN would have (naturally) taken to be yet another stab to the heart.
I can try to imagine her pain, but I would fall short.
AE and I helped JN when we could and assisted with the newspaper announcement and slide show of Lois's life, as well as the somewhat disturbing task of going through her apartment and collecting her papers (important and otherwise).
AE and I never met Lois. A regret to be listed with so many others.
A celebration of life should be exactly what it claims; a celebration of the life that has left this world. This was the first time I remember attending a celebration of life without knowing the person. JN had planned this well as the event gave myself and AE a wonderful window into Lois's life.
A life well lived.
A life that will truly be missed by all her knew and loved her.
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