As you know, I love sharing stories of people who have impacted my journey.  I was saddened to find out that a beautiful soul, Zach Sobiech, lost his battle to cancer yesterday.  Zach was only 18 years old when he died but in his short time he embraced life to the fullest.  His passion for life, love of others, and contagious joy touched my heart as well as those of many others. His legacy will live on.  As Zach said in his documentary, "It's really simple, actually, just try to make people happy."

It was a sad day yesterday. My family and I had to put down our 16 year-old sheltie, Sable, who had been battling bladder cancer. Sable tried to hold on for as long as she could, but yesterday she gave up her fight.  Up until yesterday she had been energetic and strong but that changed very suddenly.  We had no choice but to put her to sleep as she refused to eat, had a difficult time drinking, and had little to no energy. However, even in the face of adversity, she still stayed positive and died with a smile on her face.  She is reunited with her best buddy Comet, our cat who died last June.

It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of a friend and mentor of mine, Lisa Simpson Brewster. Lisa passed away after a long battle with Breast Cancer.

Sometimes people come into your life, touch your heart, and your life will never be the same. I first met Lisa, three years ago, in an educational context.  Despite the twenty-year age difference between we connected and became friends. She was back in school starting a new career path in counselling. From the moment I met her, I noticed her enthusiasm and passion for life. It was infectious. She is also the proud mother of her son, Adam. Even with all the hardships she had endured, she pressed on and didn’t let these obstacles stop her from living. Lisa had such a beautiful heart.

I was really saddened to hear this afternoon of the passing of Champion freestyle skier and fellow Canadian Sarah Burke.

Sarah died today, nine days after she crashed at the bottom of the superpipe during a training run in Utah on Jan. 10.  She sustained life-threatening injuries which placed her in a coma.

She was a pioneer in her sport and such an inspiration to many people all over the world.  Her energy and her passion for her sport were evident every time you saw her.  I loved her bubbly attitude and her strong presence in sport. She was a role model of mine and I admired her accomplishments.  She was instrumental in getting ski halfpipe into the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

We all grieve in different ways.  I'm turning to writing to express the thoughts that are in my head right now.

I just came home from taking our family cat, Comet to the vet.  She usually loves to eat and will come running whenever you put kibble in her bowl.  Also, she constantly would wake us up by either bunting our face or slightly nibbling our hair when she wanted to wake us up at night to give her a midnight/early morning snack.  Well, when she wouldn't eat and would sniff her favourite foods and walk away; we knew something was up.