sara posted a symbolic gesture
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
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Yvonne was my little cousin whom I first met when I was nine years old, when my parents took me to England for a year. We lived with Yvonne and her brother and parents for a number of months in Birmingham, England, where I also attended school. Yvonne had golden curls, sparkling blue eyes, and was a very opinionated five-year-old at that time. I remember we were both sitting on the living room floor, on a rug, looking at pictures of the Queen of England, when Yvonne suddenly jumped up and began to stomp her foot on the late Queen. I was surprised at this five-year-old, who decided for some reason she was going to "stomp on the Queen". But in a way, that was who Yvonne always was, a lady who knew her own mind no matter what. When Yvonne moved to Canada, she lived with me for about a year in Toronto, and helped me when I first adopted my daughter Shawna, a little girl who was born with four congenital anomalies of the heart. I was unmarried; it had just become law that unmarried people could adopt here in Ontario. Yvonne, as I said, always knew her own mind, and over the years we saw many issues from very different points; she was more Liberal while I was very much Conservative. But I still loved her, I phoned her from time-to-time, even after I moved from Toronto to London Ontario 20 years ago, but we did not get to see each other very much as her eye sight diminished significantly, and my degenerative disc disease worsened substantially due to 30 years of bedside nursing. So the last real chat we had on the phone was last Christmas. I phoned to wish her Merry Christmas again this Christmas of 2025, and find out how she was doing; I had always taken the initiative, because she never phoned me; although she did send me a birthday card on my birthday each year. I was shocked to learn that my little cousin had expired. I have been crying; but I have at least the knowledge that a beautiful family from her local Dresden Community Church adopted Yvonne, and took care of her. She told me that the last time I spoke to he. She was quite happy about that. She is now with a much larger family, the family of God: all those who have passed away in His LOVE and MERCY. My nephew David was right when I phoned him; he told me that I should not weep, because Yvonne was now happy: happier than she has ever been. In fact, the word is not happy, because what she is experiencing is joy, JOY UNSPEAKABLE, as St. Paul said.
