Following
is the first paragraph Angele wrote in her journal.
I never told anyone this story so I might as well
start my journal with it.
My weekly routine was every Friday, rain or shine, I
cleaned my house whether it needed it or not.
That was the law and on Fridays the house got cleaned.
Well one Friday in September 2002, I stood in the
middle of the living room feeling so so tired, nearly crying.
What a chore I had in front of me and absolutely no energy to do it with.
Standing there I said to myself, “I hope that the Doctors find
something really wrong with me, like that everyone will believe how tired I
am”. Well the Doctors did find something really wrong.
In November 2002 I was diagnosed with metastized Colon cancer.
Be
careful what you wish for….it just might come true.
When
Angele first found out in late January 2003 that her Cancer was Terminal we all
began praying even harder than usual for a miracle cure.
That miracle of physical healing was not to be. Angele received a
different kind a miracle, that of accepting death with Faith and resignation, an
even greater miracle than that of physical healing. Angele is now in Heaven with
all those that she loved and who have gone before her.
Is
it a miracle or is it just fate? During our lives we are all recipients of many
miracles that we do not recognize until much later in life. Many of us mistake
many miracles with fate.
On
August 3rd, 1950 in the beautiful valley town of St.Lazare Man. a
first child, a daughter, was born to Rene and Marguerite Huberdeau.
She was as beautiful as an Angel so they named her Angele.
Seventeen
days later, and 300 miles away, in the hot dry prairie town of Lafleche,
Saskatchewan, a fifth child, Paul,was born to Raymond and Florence Bourassa.
From all I can gather it was a bumper crop to harvest that year and the
Bourassa’s had a very cranky baby to deal with.
It
would be nineteen years and four months before our lives would cross paths. It
happened in Gravelbourg, Sask. in Dec. of 1969. I didn’t have a chance after I
saw Angele. Her long black hair and beautiful green eyes and that oh so sexy
French accent were just too much. Oh yeah the rest of her wasn’t too hard on
the eyes either. I would later find that Angele’s beauty was much more than skin
deep.
Things
progressed as they usually do and on June 3rd 1972 we were married
in St. Lazare and then lived in Coleman, Alta.. Our first son, Chad, arrived
on March 9th 1973. For those of you counting the months that is 9
months and 6 days. Charlie and Gwyn will remember the trip the four of us, along
with little Shawn, made to Calgary the day before Chad would be born. Angele, 8
1/2 months pregnant, was hanging out the window pulling the radio antenna down so it
wouldn’t hit the underground parking concrete. What a sight.
On
Jan. 29th 1976 our second son, Kevin, arrived on the scene. Kevin’s
was a more uneventful entry into the world than Chad’s and he began sleeping
through the night after 3 weeks, unlike Chad who was a year old before he slept
all night. We learnt from our mistakes.
In
August 1977 we decided to move back to Sask. To be closer to our families and
chose Regina as the place to be. I
think that move was a matter of fate, or was it a Miracle. Thanks to Uncle John
and Aunt Betty for putting the 4 of us up for a bit.
That
fall the beginnings of A REAL MIRACLE began to unfold. Jeremy, our 3 year old
nephew, was diagnosed with Lymphatic Cancer and was given 2 to 3 weeks to live
if treatments weren't started immediately. Treatments began and continued for
the next 3 years, with dozens of trips between St.Lazare and Regina, with Rob
and Geraldine and Jeremy staying with us, until Jeremy was finally declared
Cancer free. There would be a few scares in the next 24 years but Jeremy is now
30 years old, married and hopefully soon will be a proud Daddy. Jeremy, you are
a real living MIRACLE and it could not have happened to a nicer young man.
Things
moved along smoothly until the summer of 1985. That Labor Day weekend Angele’s
Brother-in-Law, Charlie, and later in the fall Angele’s Father-in-Law,
Raymond, were diagnosed with Cancer. Charlie was successful in his battle but
Raymond passed away that Christmas Eve, six weeks after being diagnosed. I know
Angele is sitting at my Dads side, the special guest of honour at a wonderful
reception in Heaven right now.
In
1994 Chad married Carrie Wieble and on Jan 2nd 1999 another miracle
entered Angele’s life. Victoria, the Queen, was and is the most precious gift
Angele received since Chad and Kevin were born.
Angele
loved many things but one of her greatest loves was sports, especially baseball
and the Blue Jays. I know Angele and her cancer friend June, another big Blue
Jay fan, have already had a few discussions in Heaven as to what is wrong with
that team AGAIN this year.
Anyway
in August of 1998 one of Angele’s dreams came true. The five of us, Chad,
Carrie, Kevin, Angele and I drove to Minneapolis for some Blue Jays baseball.
Now, at that time Carrie was four months pregnant and we all know that car
travel and pregnant women do not mix well. A twelve hour drive took at least 16
or more hours. We stopped at almost every town I’m sure. Sorry Carrie.
The
look on Angele’s face when we first entered the stadium was absolutely
precious. She was in her glory at those games.
Like
Angele always said our lives have been pretty darn good with very few setbacks.
That all changed in late summer of 2002. Many of you have been recipients of our
e-mails since that time so you know what kind of a fight Angele put up against
this terrible disease. She never gave up and even after 37 long, difficult
Chemotherapy treatments she was willing to get even more if she could have.
Angele kept a journal of her last two years that have been transferred to CD’s
that you are all welcome to take.
When
Father Brad came over to the house Saturday evening to discuss arrangements he
asked us to tell him more about Angele. I thought to myself “what more can we
say that he doesn’t already know? He must know enough about Angele” Well,
there was a lot more. With Chad, Carrie, Kevin and Cam here they began to relate
special things about Mom such as:
-
The boys
never remember Mom ever raising her voice in Anger at them.
-
They
never heard Mom and I argue and scream at each other.
- Angele HATED to drive, especially in the winter.
She would use
every excuse in the book to get me or Kevin or Lee or anybody to drive her to
work.
- Angele loved to buy stuff and then return it
because it wasn’t just perfect. I reminded them that Angele bought, I
returned.
- Angele never turned anyone away in her life. A
chance meeting of a complete stranger would turn into a lifelong friendship.
Cheryl will certainly vouch for that.
Thoughts
and memories just continued to flow. It was amazing how we take things so much
for granted and don’t think of them as special.
All
of us who were lucky enough to get to know Angele well, and those that only knew
her briefly, were fortunate to have had that opportunity. Angele will be
remembered in different ways by different people but some things that will be
common to all were her dedication to her family, to her co-workers, to her job,
to her friends, to her many crafts she did at different times of her life, her
wonderful sense of humour that never left her no matter how tough things got,
and her genuine, honest, unique personality.
Let
us ALL try to remember to celebrate the happy times with Angele when she was
healthy but let us also never forget Angele’s determination, grace, strength,
courage and faith as she struggled with Cancer the past two years and use it as
an example for the rest of our lives. The eleven of us that were lucky enough to
be with Angele in her final hours and minutes have that special event etched in
our soul and it was BEAUTIFUL. Angele died the way she lived.
Angele
had a special way with people and we could not have asked for a better Daughter,
Niece, Sister, Wife, Daughter-in-Law, Sister-in Law, Mother, Mother-in-law,
Aunt, Nana, Co-worker or Friend.
Angele
will be sadly missed but never forgotten by all who knew her. Angele, until we
meet again, WE WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER and WE
WILL NEVER FORGET YOU.