I am Karen Wilson, a Spiritual Health Practitioner, privileged to be a part of the pediatric oncology team at Victoria General Hospital.

Thank you for the privilege to speak at this important celebration of Elise today.

Most of all a time of thanksgiving/gratitude and celebration of the life of Elise.

To express gratitude for the unique essence, spark, spirit, energy, personality that says “Elise”.

Margaret Silf wrote:

“This whole universe, with its trillions of galaxies, began as a tiny speck of
concentrated energy, smaller than a grain of salt. When you were first conceived, you were just a single cell, a mere pinpoint of life, barely visible to the naked eye but packed full of the potential for everything you would ever become—every action, choice, and relationship.
You are just a drop in the ocean, but without you the ocean will not become the ocean.
You are just a grain of sand, but you are a grain of sand that tips the scales.
You are just a drop of dew that soaks into the earth and is gone by noon,
but that drop of dew brings life to the seed that grows in the earth.
You are only one, but the Power of One is greater than you dare to dream.
One is not Nothing. One makes a difference”

Elise has made a difference in this world and in our lives, and continues to do so.

Just this year I had the opportunity to meet Elise.
How we each remember Elise is most likely different for each:
We knew her at: different time of her life
different time of our life,
through events,
through shared interests,
in a variety of relationships

This gathering acknowledges the importance of support and hope as we share the joys and the loss of Elise.

Being here today, we are caused to acknowledge the uncertainties of life, the lack of fairness in life, the fragilities of life as well as the joys and celebrations and gratitude of life.

Grieving comes from our very spirit, which is why it is so all encompassing.

Therefore it is Spirit that can support and lead us through. (which is why I am here)

We all have a need, in and from our spirit, to give love, to receive love, for meaning and purpose, and for hope. With this loss, each of these basic human spiritual needs have been affected.

We sometimes need some space to just acknowledge that, indeed, we have these needs of spirit, and that it is OK to do so.

We are aware of spirit when we know what makes us feel whole, when we are aware of what brings meaning and purpose to us as individuals, when we know how and what we do, personally, to bring us to that place of peace.

My limited experience of Elise showed me that when she knew a direction to take, she went for it. That she checked out different options and then made up her mind. That she did not always take the easy or most simple choice, but the one that made sense to her and that she was able to tell you why she did it or why she liked it.

Our spirits are strengthened in our relationship with others……family members, close friends……. how we share love and compassion in practical and emotional ways that build each other up. With hugs, with a listening ear, with affirmation that what we are feeling or doing is accepted, just for who we are. That knowing there are caring others in our life. Elise was very aware of those who love her, surrounding her and her family.

Our spirits are strengthened when we recognize our relationship to the world around us, in nature, in music, in art, in creativity, in animals, in our planet. Whether pets and puppies, or art work or crafts or watching the ocean waves. Knowing that we are an integral part of a global world can bring us perspective.

For many of us, we can also be strengthened by a relationship with the transcendent, however we understand that. A relationship with something, someone, some energy, perhaps God, that we understand as being greater than our own physical being.

At this time, I would offer you the opportunity to take a moment to check in on your own spirit. To ponder the relationships you have in your life that have the potential to strengthen your spirit, and to think about how you might consciously access and connect with those relationships in order to find some sense of hope…………………………….

This is an invitation to you, to think about where and who, you reach out to, beyond your own self, for strength, for love, and for hope.

For me, God is the name that encompasses the power that I need to hold on to, which is beyond my own.

Sometimes holding on is just that, allowing what we are feeling to just ‘be’ and acknowledging that is where we are in that moment.

Today may you feel supported, be given time to think and to be able to connect with what will allow you to find strength and hope in your own journey.

Words of Abbey Willowroot:

" Hope, fragile, luminous and buoyant, fill me now -
bring your gifts of optimism, faith and positivity
grow strong within me, today and everyday
increase my connection with those around me
balance my moods with a lightness of being
and touch all those I meet, with blessings" Bless you