Who Helps Make Your Soul Blossom?

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

– Marcel Proust

As much as I love the above quote, I would add this bit: 

Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy…and to the people who help us figure out how to make ourselves happy. 

For at the end of the day…happiness is an inside job.

And, as you may have personally experienced in life – or currently are experiencing – it is a job that may require an astounding amount of work…some of which, quite frankly, is anything but joyous or fun.

But this much I know: the rocky road to happiness is always worth the effort. 

On Sept 13th, 2025, the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund held it’s 25th anniversary event in Calgary. From my perspective, the evening was absolutely lovely. I got to stand up at the front of a ballroom filled with 110 people – the vast majority of whom have played some sort of role in my journey over the past 25 years – and say ‘thank you.’

How cool is that?!

In fact, if it weren’t for some of the people in that room, I would not have survived the treacherous emotional and psychological journey that started at 7am on September 29th, 2000 – the moment I arrived at work and first heard the news that John had fallen and hit his head.

As I said in my speech the other night, healing after a traumatic event is not a solitary sport. We are not supposed to grieve alone. I certainly didn’t.

Other people in that ballroom played a very different role in my journey…by helping me tackle the issue that led to John’s death in the first place: an unsafe workplace. If a simple safety railing had been in place, John would not have fallen through the unmarked false ceiling.

But he did…leaving behind an awful lot of hurt people who had to learn how to pick up the pieces of their shattered hearts and put them back together in a way that made some sort of sense to them. I was one of those people.

And a big piece of my broken heart was put back into place through the work of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund over the past quarter century. Raising public awareness about the importance of workplace safety was not – is not – a path for the faint of heart. It has required an insane amount of time, effort, money and patience.

But I cannot deny that tackling the issue that led to John’s death played an integral role in my healing process…at least for the first few years. And then somewhere along the way, we began to realize that our efforts weren’t just a way of keeping John’s memory alive…our efforts were helping other workers stay alive.

And even if our public awareness campaigns only prevented one workplace fatality or serious injury, that alone was worth the effort. Because when you’re on the other side of an easily preventable workplace fatality – a loved one left behind – one is one too many.

In 2000, the year John died, 959 Canadians died as the result of their work – either from injury or occupational illness. That annual statistic has continued – consistently – year after year, over the past 25 years. Approximately 1000 Canadians die every year as a result of their job. Thousands more are seriously injured.

And so, the JPMF will continue it’s efforts. Our next safety initiative is a documentary TV series entitled, “Complacent.” This project is currently in development with the Calgary production company, Joe Media Group.

If I could turn back the clock to 25 years ago…and go back to my devastated 32-year-old self, I don’t think I would believe that the JPMF would still be going strong after all these years! But then again, in the early days, I don’t think I believed I would ever be happy again either. I remember wanting to be happy again…but I honestly had no idea how much work it would entail to get here.

I’m glad I put in the work. And I’m grateful for all the people in my life who helped me figure out how to be happy again…which sometimes meant not giving me what I thought I wanted!

But back to the Sept 13th event…

Here is the link to view the JPMF 25th anniversary video (5 min) we showed that evening. This powerful video was produced by Mark Anderson…thank you, Mark!

And here are the links to some of the media coverage of the event:

Calgary Herald

CTV

Here are a few photos from the evening:

Those are just a few of the many gardeners who have helped my soul blossom over the years 🙂

As always, thanks so much for reading & take care!

Maryanne Pope is the author of “A Widow’s Awakening.” She also writes screenplays, playscripts & blogs. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Co-Founder of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. To receive her blog, “Weekly Words of Wisdom,” please subscribe here. And be sure to visit our PinkGazelleCards Etsy shop.