Winter pick me up

November 30, 2013 / Paula Turner / 3 Comments

Loss and comfort

November 23, 2013 / Paula Turner / 4 Comments

“And this day has been especially hard for all of you because you are in the caring business. You work with your hearts.”

These words were spoken by the head of the crisis team that came to my school last week. That day, that especially hard day, a student, on his way to school, was struck by a car. He passed away.

At one point, after the crisis team spoke, a co-worker pointed out that ten minutes before this happened, the child’s mom was probably calling him, urging him to hurry up, get your coat on. It’s time for school.

And then, he was gone.

Two days later, that same co-worker turned to me, as we stood at the condolence book for the family, in the memorial that is the centrepiece of our school library, and asked “What can I say? What do I write?”

In those two days, between the loss and the moments of comfort, we tried to find the words to help our students.

The photo next to the condolence book is of a little boy with a smile and glowing eyes.

There are no words.

West Coast Beauty

November 10, 2013 / Paula Turner / Leave a comment

Had a wonderful Canadian Thanksgiving with my girl and her West Coast family of friends. First time ever that I cooked Thanksgiving dinner – split between the vegetarians and the turkey lovers….it was amazing.