A Funny Story about Kelly-Anne

This summer has been a very different kind of summer for me. Despite the erratic weather here in Quebec, I have had the opportunity to enjoy the pool and absence of employment. Oh those lazy days of summer which I remember as a child ...carefree, no responsibilities and just having fun. Well, I can't say that it is entirely the same...but close with the exception of looking for a job.

These past couple of months has allowed me to reflect more about days gone by and about the things Kelly-Anne did in her short but abundant life. Each day at the pool, I ask Kelly-Anne to swim with me. I can say now that I am 95% cured of my post trauma of deep water. I know she has helped me get over that. I can now swim one hour without stopping...yes I do come up for air !

I reflected one day about a time where Kelly-Anne really like Ashley McIssac...a singer from the east coast. Kell had a thing for Celtic music. One day, later in the evening, Kell had come home from Waterpolo practice. She had been to school that day, and decided sometime in the morning to leave school to go downtown to find McIssac. He was in town doing a show and Kelly-Anne decided that she would like to have a one on one with him. I was shocked that she just left school without notifying us or her teacher. I said Kell..".how did you do that?" She responded..."Mom, I opened the front door of the school and put one foot in front of the other and left." She rode the bus downtown, walked Ste. Catherine street and low and behold found McIssac walking out of a resto. She spend her quality time with him alone chatting on the street, then made her way back towards home to go to her waterpolo practice.

Meanwhile, hundreds of other fans waited patiently including her sister Kim at a record store for an autograph. All this to say, when McIssac saw Kim with the same waterpolo jacket, he mentioned that he had met Kelly-Anne.

What determination Kelly-Anne had! The message in all this is that we have to put one foot forward to move forward and get what we want. I am learning so much from my daughter. We can't wait for someone to give us things on a silver platter. Thinking of Kell gives me the daily determination to find my new career. Even in her death, Kell motivates me.

Thanks Kell, I love you.