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Life After Loss
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published in Animals, Inspiration, Photos, Travel, Workplace Safety by Maryanne | November 1, 2017 | 6 Comments
Pig Pen Happiness – Priscilla, Pippa & Pixie the Piglet
Priscilla enjoying breakfast
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
– Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
It’s probably a good thing I don’t have a home of my own at the moment. If I did, I may well have brought back a PET PIG from Saskatchewan yesterday!
MA bottle feeding Pixie
My friend, Jackie, has just started breeding “kunekune” pigs on their ranch near Foam Lake.
Jackie with Priscilla & Pippa
The kunekune is a small breed of domestic pig from New Zealand. Kunekune are hairy, with a rotund build and may bear wattles hanging from their lower jaws (Priscilla, Pippa and even baby Pixie all had wattles). Their colour ranges from black and white, to ginger, cream, gold-tip, black, brown and tricoloured. They have a docile, friendly nature, and – like the pot-bellied pig – are now often kept as pets.
I can see why.
MA with Priscilla
Kunekune are suitable for a novice owner, as they are placid, friendly, and love human company. They are easy to train and intelligent.
MA rubbing Pippa’s belly
The resultant HUGE smile on Pippa’s face!
The native Māori people of New Zealand adopted kunekune. The word kunekune means “fat and round” in the Māori language…kinda perfect!
If you happen to be interested in learning more about kunekune pigs, you can contact Jackie through Facebook.
Oh and yes, I did take a few photos of humans, too 🙂
L to R: Mac, Lexi, Shade & Jackie
And prior to visiting the Foam Lake homestead, I spent a weekend with my friend, Colleen, and her family in Saskatoon. This is a cute shot of me & Col in the brand new Remai Modern Art Gallery:
I was actually in Saskatoon to deliver a couple of JPMF workplace safety presentations at the Mine Your Potential conference (for women in mining and nuclear), so naturally had to stretch that out into a week of visiting friends!
And I just received this bit of feedback from one of the conference organizers:
“Thank you so much for your participation in our event. I hope you get a lot more requests from Saskatchewan, now that word is spreading about how powerful your talk was. You are such a natural speaker. Your talk will be one of my long lasting memories of this conference. I am so sorry for your tragedy. It is awesome that you are helping to make the work environment safer for so many other first responders.”
– Donna Beneteau, PEng, MASc, University of Saskatchewan
That’s it from this bohogazelle…have a safe & productive week!
Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her regular weekly blog, please sign up here. As a thank you, you’ll receive a short but saucy e-book entitled, Dive into this Chicago Deep Dish – Ten Bite-Sized Steps for a Yummier Slice of Life.
published in Anger, Change, John Petropoulos Memorial Fund, Life After Loss, Police Line-Of-Duty Deaths, Workplace Safety by Maryanne | October 17, 2017 | No Comment
Map of Heartbreak – Loss as a Catalyst for Change
“What breaks your heart? The warrior knows that her heartbreak is her map. It will lead her toward her purpose, her tribe.”
– Glennon Doyle Melton, “Hurts So Good” article, O Magazine, Feb 2017
Pain as Fuel
In her article, “Hurts so Good,” author Glennon Doyle Melton wrote about a group of women in Iowa who had all lost an infant – and started an organization called “Healthy Birth Day,” with the goal of lowering the stillbirth rate in their state.
“Instead of withdrawing after their losses,” explained Melton, “or finding ways to disconnect from the magnitude of their suffering, they ran straight toward it. Their pain became their fuel. Their courage saved others from the misery they’d experienced.”
This is similar to how we chose to proceed in the aftermath of my husband, John’s, death as the result of a preventable fall at unsafe workplace. By “we,” I am referring to the police officers who started the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund and all the people who have (and/or still do) work for, volunteer with, or lend support to the Fund in some way.
In the early years, pain and anger certainly fueled our passion and guided our purpose. Nothing we did could bring John back but we all agreed that the workplace safety campaigns were better than doing nothing at all. We will never know the number of lives we have saved, or the injuries we’ve prevented…and we’re okay with that.
Would I recommend this path to others in a similar situation?
Hmmm…
Working closely with the JPMF to help raise public awareness about why and how to ensure workplaces – and the roads – are safer for everyone, including emergency responders has been my path, yes. I knew in my heart and soul, very early on, that workplace safety was an issue that I would need to tackle.
I wouldn’t change a thing.
But being a workplace safety advocate did not come without sacrifice in other areas of my life. The time, money, effort, love, and attention I put into the JPMF meant there were other areas of my life that didn’t get that. And that’s okay. I chose the path I did…every moment of every day. I have no regrets.
However, now that I have 17 years of experience behind me, I can safely say that trying to transform a tragedy into positive change so that others don’t have to experience similar suffering comes at a cost. We cannot do it all.
“Pleasant experiences make life delightful. Painful experiences lead to growth.”
– Anthony de Mello, Awareness
Thankfully, we get to choose how to respond to whatever loss we have experienced…and forge our own way forward. So regardless of whether we allow loss to be a catalyst for growth and change for ourselves and/or for others, just remember:
“Allow heartbreak to guide you at every turn.”
– Glennon Doyle Melton
When the love in your heart is your road map, you cannot go wrong.
Related blogs by Maryanne
Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her regular weekly blog, please sign up here. As a thank you, you’ll receive a short but saucy e-book entitled, Dive into this Chicago Deep Dish – Ten Bite-Sized Steps for a Yummier Slice of Life.
published in A Widow's Awakening Book, Death, John Petropoulos Memorial Fund, Police Line-Of-Duty Deaths, Workplace Safety by Maryanne | June 28, 2017 | 1 Comment
Maryanne’s Chicago Presentation on You Tube
“In order for us to achieve excellence in our lives we must ask ourselves this simple, but powerful question throughout every day – What’s Important Now?”
– Brian R. Willis, Life’s Most Powerful Question
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may recall I was in Chicago in April. I was one of 9 speakers at WINx – which is a TEDx Talks style event for growth and advancement of the law enforcement profession.
WINx is produced by Brian R Willis of Winning Mind Training Inc and Roy Bethge of the Virtus Group.
My presentation was entitled, Behind the Scenes of a Line of Duty Death – a Police Widow’s Perspective.
I spoke about John’s fall and the subsequent workplace safety education initiatives of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. Then I did a post-game analysis of sorts, looking at our reaction to John’s easily preventable death from the perspective of the “What’s Important Now?” question.
“The simple act of stopping to ask this question causes us to briefly pause while our mind imagines the impact of the choices we have and almost immediately brings to mind the most desirable choice. When I say most desirable I do not mean the choice that will give us the most immediate gratification. I mean the choice that will have the most positive impact for us in our lives, based on the foreseeable future. This one powerful question allows us to prioritize decisions, choices, actions, and events in our personal and professional lives.”
– Brian R. Willis, Life’s Most Powerful Question
I also touched upon the challenge of knowing which answer to listen to, when we do stop and ask ourselves, “What’s Important NOW?” Often our monkey mind chatter – and the influence of others – is far louder than the quiet voice we need to be listening to.
“Some call that voice intuition; others say it’s God, or wisdom…the point is, what we call it doesn’t matter. What’s important is that we hear it.”
– Glennon Doyle Melton, O Magazine, July 2017
To view the 20-minute presentation, here is the link.
Related Blogs by Maryanne
The Question That Took Me to Chicago
Dealing with Dread & the Benefits of Being Back in the Saddle
Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her regular weekly blog, please sign up here.