It's Been a Long Time coming... ~Gord Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017)

Hello dear readers;

Over the years, I have come to realize that people are in your life for the right reasons, or they aren't. 

GORD, may the Lord be entertained by this musical GENIUS, was able to express all these things in his music.  I am currently listening to Grace, Too, and if you are Hip, you know that there are lines that Gord has changed depending on the show he was doing, my favorite ad-lib of this song has to be "You say I'm Tragically Hip".  

I am happy to say that I was able to see this genius perform.  Only ONE single time.  I was with my hubby (who was just my BF at the time) his buddy Andrew and my sister Erin.  It was one of the single most amazing concerts I had ever been to.  I had WHEAT KINGS recorded on my answering machine for so long, that eventually Bell deleted it. Those Monopoly bastards!  lol

I am listening to The HIP on shuffle, thank you YouTube Music!  With a wonderful set of head phones, I am hearing each strum of the guitar, rap of the drum and all the artistic, melodic and mesmerizing details that are thrown together to make some of the best music, in Canadian albeit world history. Those of you who know a little bit about me... I Alison Proulx, am not afraid to admit that I am notorious for NEVER singing the right words.  There are songs, most songs where the lyrics are clear as day, and I can still get them wrong.  Because my words, although they don't make sense, sound much much better that how the original artist intended them to be.

The Tragically Hip, is one of those bands.  For the longest time, I didn't know the words to any of their songs.  Then I met Derek!  He's my musical genius.  If it weren't for him I would most likely still be singing the words wrong.  Some of the guys I have dated, can attest to my lack of lyric knowledge. I can tell you the name of a song, or the first line of a sang, after the first 5 or 6 notes.

GORD DOWNIE FACTS:

1- C A N A D I A N 

2- Indigenous affairs Advocate - the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund to support reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Chanie Wenjack was a young indigenous boy who died trying to escape a residential school.  To learn more information on Chanie and residential schools please visit this website: https://downiewenjack.ca

3- Environmentalist - especially issues concerning water rights

4- Author - The Secret Path: Proceeds from Secret Path will be donated to The Gord Downie Secret Path Fund for Truth and Reconciliation via The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) at The University of Manitoba.

5- December 6, 2016, National Chief Perry Bellegarde honoured Downie with an eagle feather, a symbol of the creator above, for his support of the Indigenous peoples of Canada. Bellegarde also bestowed on Downie an honorary aboriginal name, Wicapi Omani, which is Lakota for "man who walks among the stars".

6- December 22, 2016, Downie was selected as The Canadian Press' Canadian Newsmaker of the Year and was the first entertainer selected for the title. Two years running, the second came after he died in 2017.

7- June 19, 2017, Downie, along with his Tragically Hip bandmates, was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for "their contribution to Canadian music and for their support of various social and environmental causes".

8- December 2017, Percy Hatfield, the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) representing Windsor—Tecumseh introduced the bill Poet Laureate of Ontario Act In Memory of Gord Downie to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. It was passed in December 2019, establishing the Poet Laureate of Ontario.

Why am I posting so much about Gord today?  Well, sometimes the music, or one song just hits you right in the feels.  Thank you Wikipedia for providing me with some facts about the Honourable Gord "Wicapi Omani" Downie.  He is what all Canadians should aspire to.  Not just a music God, but a genuine human being, who looks after the little guy, fights for injustice to our Indigenous communities, the ones who were wronged, the ones who don't ask for anything in return, but to just seek the truth about their past.

Let's all take a minute to listen to one of your favourite Gord Downie songs, because, let's face it, they are all Gord's songs.

Gord Downie, in our lives for all the right reasons!

Much Love 

~A

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019

Hey friends,

So we are 23 days into 2019, and I can't really tell you  much about what has happened... not too much!

I have rekindled old friendships, I have opened my heart to new friends, and connected with some old family with whom I haven't spoken to in years.  for no particular reason either.  Maybe I thought they didn't want to hear from me, seeing as the reason we kept in contact has left the physical world, on to better things.  Needless to say, it's a good feeling knowing these people are there.  It's my last connection to that side. Welcome  home you guys, Missed you!

Soooooo, there are 23 days until i celebrate my 10th Transplant Anniversary. 10 years.... 

Whaaaaat!

I never thought that it would go by as quickly as it has, it's insane how fast time goes after you hit 25.

Today we are being hit with day 2 of our snow storm.  There has to be at least 3 feet of snow out there and it's still falling y'all!  Take a look at this....

DAY 1: January 22, 2019

January 22, 2019

Calm before the storm

Beautiful winter sunset

 DAY 2: January 23, 2019

Driveway marker for the plough guy, or in our case
the BOBCAT guy!

This is so incredible, I love winter, I love being warm and snug in my home, with the fireplace on, wrapped in my warm blanket and sipping coffee out of my awesome mug, that I received as a Christmas gift from my friends Ange & Glenn.

On that note... it's raining...Oy!

Happy winter 2019 everyone! 

Loving you always

Ali

Cornwall is going to the Olympics

Published on November 5th, 2009

Published on Febuary 7th, 2010

 

I’m sure when the Winter Olympics hit our airwaves in Canada, there will be hundreds of stories “behind the story.” I’m going to share one with you ahead of time.

Alison Proulx is 30 years of age, and lives in Cornwall with her husband. She works at Advantages Advertising for her mom and dad, Linda and Kevin Wilson. So far to be truthful, the story is pretty general and not much to it.

Alison Proulx is 30 years of age. The medical profession, not too long ago, wasn’t sure she’d make it to 31. Alison has spent a lot of time in hospital recently, in Toronto. You see, she needed a double lung transplant. “I was born with cystic fibrosis and my lung capacity was down to ten percent which means I needed a lot of oxygen just to breathe. It was the worst six months of my life. Now it didn’t feel that bad to me but apparently it was pretty bad. The doctors didn’t think I was going to come home,” said Alison.

Alison is home and she’s feeling pretty good thank you very much. The double lung transplant happened on Feb. 16, 2009. “It actually happened on Family Day. There’s a lot of karma going on for me right now. I was in the hospital for seventeen days and then I had to stay in Toronto for the first three months in case something happened,” she says.

This is all very interesting but is not the real story behind the story. Double lung transplant patient Alison is going to the Winter Olympics. “I’ll actually be there for the one year anniversary for my double lung transplant,” said Alison, “I’ll be the hostess for the events area working in the athlete’s village. I’ll be greeting athletes as they come in letting them know where the various venues are.”

She says it’s the best gift ever to be able to spend some time at the Olympics with the athletes, the other workers and volunteers. She’s come a long way since being told she might not make it home again while she was in Toronto. “I applied on line (for the Olympic job) and I waited patiently—(she pauses)—okay, so it wasn’t patiently, I was very impatient. I think I called them every two months to find out if I was in. Finally I got the call and actually I was in Toronto when I got the call for the interview. They asked me why I wanted to work at the Olympics and I said ‘I just had a double lung transplant and I’d like to spend my one-year anniversary with the lungs at the Olympics.’”

The lady on the other end of the line said, “I guess you’re in.” “Then I found out for sure, I think it was June when I got the position.”

Ali’s been counting the days when she will realize a dream at the Winter Olympics. She leaves at the end of the January and comes back in March. Expenses are taken care of, except for flight out there. She’s staying with her aunt and uncle while in Vancouver.

Ali says, “I was hoping to get in to see some hockey and some snowboarding. The hockey is five minutes from where I’ll be working but the snowboarding is in Whistler, B.C. Maybe on my day off I can get a deal on tickets still available at last minute.”

Ali says one of her favourite sports was figure skating until the controversy hit about judging in a recent competition. Since then, she says, she’s turned her back on the sport. “With snowboarding you get your creativity and you get everything you’re missing from figure skating because they’re (the snowboarders) doing amazing stunts and of course everybody wants to watch the hockey.”

Ali says she’s never tried either sport. “I like to watch. I’m very passionate about being an observer!”

We know Ali is going to create memories of a lifetime, a lifetime that was going to be cut short, but Ali is a positive person and she was “positive” she was going to pull through. She has.

Now, there’s more to this.

While she was in Toronto, Ali thinks back to the time when all the visitors that came to see her that she felt like she was a celebrity. “The chief of police (Dan Parkinson) came to see me and made me a special constable so I have a badge and everything and I feel super-special,” she said.

When asked how she was feeling now, Ali says she feels “fantastic.” “I actually just got over a cold and I was impressed that I could actually get over it.”

As it turns out, the cold may not have been Ali’s at all. It seems the donor of the lungs tested positive for a virus called CMV and it’s believed that’s where the cold stemmed from in the first place.

But because of how Cornwall was there in Alison’s time of need, we now have the best ambassador of the city anyone could ask.

The message she will take from Cornwall to the Winter Olympics: She says she’s going to wear her Cornwall jacket, which she received as a gift from Mayor Bob Kilger, and she’s going to tell everyone about the Ontario city she is from. She says it’s a wonderful town and she hopes to have the opportunity to sell some people on at least visiting the area, if not settling down in it. “I’ll plug Cornwall left and right. I absolutely love my city. The people are amazing and the community is awesome. People I don’t even know sent me get-well cards (after her double lung transplant). You can’t ask for more than that.”

Needless to say, Ali is also a great ambassador for the organ transplant program.

As far as Ali is concerned, the organs go to waste after a person dies and she believes everyone should sign their organ donor card. Ali says she believes everyone is healthy in the afterlife, no matter what organs are left behind in this life. “It just gives some people a second chance at life,” she said.

Ali gets a check-up every three months for this first year with a new double lung and after the first year, the check-ups will come every six months. Ali recalls when she went for her new health card, the person working the desk asked her if she wanted to donate her organs if that time came. “I told her I’m double lung transplant recipient. The person said, ‘I guess you’re all for transplants then’,” she said with a laugh.

Ali says it’s been quite the ride over the past year, but with so many nice and caring people surrounding her, she knew she was going to win the race. Ali already has her “gold” medal. The rest is bonus.

Asked if she had anything else to add to the conversation, she just wanted to mention her family. “They’re very strong. I get a lot of my strength from my parents, I have to admit. It’s fantastic.”

Ali ended by saying, “I live in the best community ever.”

We’re the better for it because of your presence as well, Ali.

I’m John Divinski.

What I've been thinking

Well, it's Wednesday, and I haven't written in a while. So many things have happened, I don't know where to start.

Our family has had some sad news: a good friend of ours, who is pretty much like a brother to me, has had a sad week. Last Friday, it was discovered that our friend's younger brother had passed away accidentally. We have been grieving for the family, and doing what we can to make him happy, or at least realize there was nothing that we could do to make him come back. It's a situation I have been trained to handle, but couldn't begin to help, not knowing what to say other than "I am so sorry," just didn't cut it for me. I guess when it happens close to home, the situation changes. There is no amount of preparation for something like this. I felt hopeless to help him deal with his loss. But in one instance, he did laugh, and it was the most liberating sound I have ever heard. Malcom will be missed by everyone, and we will always be here if the family needs us. Because that is simply the kind of people we are.

On another note,

I received an email from a local in Cornwall, where I am from, pissed that I wasn't selected for the torchbearer in Cornwall, and that the person chosen isn't even known in the community. amazing how one person makes a difference. I have been asked to do an interview with the Seaway News, who find itself perched on your door every week in SDG&C, so next Thursday you will read the article written by John Divinsky, and know it's about me. I guess my experience has touched many locals in the community, who feel I should represent our community, not a marathon runner, who no one has heard of. Thank you to that individual who took the time to realize that Cornwall is my town, and I want to make a difference. I guess my going to the Olympics is bigger than running with the torch... although the torchbearer gets to keep the torch, and the awesome tracksuit, I want one.

BUY YOUR MITTENS...

Don't forget to buy your mittens and support our athletes at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. I'm buying mine, they are only $10.00 here's the picture...

"WITH GLOWING HEARTS"

How can you turn these puppies down? They are awesome! If you're Canadian, buy them; if you're American, buy them. They are the coolest thing to hit the streets these days. So cool that they are sold out. That's good. All the proceeds of the sale of these mittens are being given back to the athletes, and it should be this way, Time after time, year after year, and available every winter. What better way to show your pride in CANADA than to wear these awesome mittens? Can't wait to get mine!!!! WOOHOO!!!

Cara, I am sending you a pair, and Patrick, so be on the lookout.

VANCOUVER 2010 Here I Come!
107 days to go!!!
WOOHOO! Get my schedule next week, so excited.