It was held at a beautiful cemetary in Burnaby followed by a lunch afterward at The Hart House restaurant.
I first heard of her passing when I returned from my holiday in Pender. It was quite a shock for everyone. She had cancer and didn't tell anyone.
We were never really that close. My family and her side of the family never really got together. In fact, we met her daughter maybe a couple times at the most? So today I got to meet a bunch of family that I had never met before. It was pretty cool but also a tad overwhelming. So many years of hearing stories about these people and finally I meet them at such an unfortunate event.
I do have many memories of my aunt Joan and Uncle Bill. They were at many birthday parties up until I was about 11 years old. Then my uncle Bill passed away and Joan never really came around anymore. But I did go to Christina Lake one year with her and it was a pretty great time. Her daughter even made a point to come over to me today and tell me about how Joan always talked about that trip and how much fun she had and how she wished she could go again.
I ended up chatting with her daughter for most of the day. Learned a lot about Joan that I didn't know. Like her love for gardening and fishing and dogs and how she was a Judge for many years! Super cool.
As the ceremony started I began to get super emotional. As terrible as it sounds I didn't think I would get too upset as we weren't that close. But hearing the kind words that were spoken and having memories come back really started to get to me. Thinking of my aunt Pat as well was super hard as tomorrow would be her 70th birthday.
The restaurant we went to was located at Deer Lake in Burnaby. It was called the Hart House. It was absolutley beautiful and the food was delicious.
It was a rough day in general. There were some good moments but mainly it was just sad.
One of the things that made me smile and helped me through was the one moment I looked down at my phone and saw a text message from my friend Kelsey:
" Thinking of you today :) xx "
I don't think she understands how amazing of a person she is. Recieving that message meant so much to me <3 I'm extremely lucky to have such a special person like her in my life.
My aunt and uncle from Christina Lake were down for it and after it was done they came back to our house and visited for awhile which was nice.
After dinner I took the long way to Ryan's house and drove past Joan's place. Just my way of saying goodbye. I could see that they weren't lying when they said she had a love for gardneing. Her yard was beautiful. Made me sad to think how it won't get taken care of as much anymore. Drove through Derby Reach just as the sun was setting. It was a good way to end the day.
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