It was a beautiful day. The air was crisp, the sky was clear and the sun was shining. This is a rare treat in Vancouver in the Winter.
We started the celebration with worship to invite the presence and glory of God into our celebration. It was beautiful. We asked Pastor Steve to do Kaitlyn’s eulogy. This was powerful and authoritative. I will post Kaitlyn’s eulogy but apologize because I don’t think it captures the same passion with which it was delivered. In preparation of Kailtyn’s memorial Paul and I thought about final words we wanted to share but we were speechless. After blogging so much I didn’t have many words left to say. But at the heart of it I think we both just wanted Kaitlyn’s celebration of life to speak louder than words. I felt like words would be forgotten but the spirit of our celebration would remain as a beautiful memory. As you can see more than anything I can write to describe the day, the spirit of Kaitlyn’s memorial is captured in the photos.
In the spirit of fun we asked our guests to wear pink. We were touched that so many people made the effort. There were those who wore loose shades of pink slash purple and those who went out and bought something pink. After shopping for Paul I know how hard it was to find pink menswear and only in hindsight as we shopped did I realize that purple was the colour of the season. We nominated and voted for the best dressed. Although Justin wore a head to toe pink outfit, as the MC he was not allowed to be nominated. For some reason Paul was nominated and voted as the best dressed in his pink argyle sweater. However I passed the prize on to Ed Ko who wore pink shoe laces and a pink belt!
Linda Dart was one of Kaitlyn’s nurses whom I have mentioned a few times in our blog. Although all the nurses were excellent, Linda Dart went above and beyond her duty. She cared for Kaitlyn as I would have if I were a nurse. I felt reassured whenever I knew Linda was looking after Kaitlyn. Linda was also our nurse the day Kaitlyn passed away. She actually stayed past her 7pm when her shift ended and stayed with us till 11pm. In fact one of the reason we chose not to drag out this process was because of Linda and Dr. Pittfield. In our short time in the ICU we had met many doctors. Dr Pittfield was the Pediatric Intensivist on rotation when Kaitlyn was taken in for her last emergency surgery. We had a very difficult conversation with him about whether or not to continue Kaitlyn’s life support but he was able to present the medical information yet be compassionate in a professional way. We appreciated this and found it important that we were surrounded by these two people in Kaitlyn’s last moments. We could not bear to have to connect with a new doctor and have to share our most difficult moment in life with them. Although Dr. Pittfield was unable to attend Kaitlyn’s memorial, Linda came and we honoured her with a gift and she shared a few words about her role in the ICU. Linda happened to be part of palliatative team in the ICU. When she began her rotation with Kaitlyn during one of her earlier critical moments she had to reassure me that she was not assigned to our case because of her role on the end of life care team. Linda has many gifts and talents, she had worked a few years doing wedding photography so she captured some beautiful moments with Kaitlyn before and after she passed away. We appreciated her care not only for Kaitlyn but for us during our time in the ICU.
Before the meal we did a quick scavenger hunt. Each table had to collect five items and race to the front to be the first at the buffet table. They had to find a ten dollar bill, lip stick/ lip gloss, a kid’s shoe, a key chain and gum. I was surprised at how quickly some groups found these things.
The food was delicious but I must admit that the day was like our wedding day. I didn’t really eat as much as I would have had I been a guest. It wasn’t as if I was stressed because Hanna did an awesome job keeping everything running on time. I guess I didn’t have the luxury to enjoy my meal because as a host I walked around to talk to people.
The Eulogy is still a work in process. We didn’t video tape our celebration so I had to recreate the eulogy from notes and memory. I will post this once Ps Steve has read my draft. I also need Paul to upload our slideshow...should be up tonight :)
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