Words Fail Me

I got a card today.

From my sister.

Except it wasn't from my sister.

It was from... everyone.

Aunts and Uncles. Cousins and second-cousins. Spouses and kids. Brother and sister-in-law. Nephews. Mom and Dad. Even the family dog.

Everyone back in Newfoundland, from my hometown to St. John's and back, had signed it. There were thoughts and wishes, messages of love and support and strength, promises of prayers being said.

Can you imagine one little piece of paper having such weight? Having my whole family, in the palm of my hands?

I know my sister was the guiding light behind this. No-one else would think to do such a thing. Nobody else would go to the effort of rounding up such a notoriously scattered bunch and have them all sign one piece of paper. Perhaps nobody else would really "get" what something like that means... the power of an object like that. It becomes almost a piece of religious ephemera, like a prayer card or a scapular, an object of protection and strength...

What it did for my heart and my spirit, fifteen years of professional writing don't give me the tools to express.

Thanks, Sister. Thanks, family.

For once I mean it literally when I say: It meant more than you could ever, ever know.

ronnie