Over the weekend of August 18, 2018, my children, my three siblings, and their children gathered at at our lakehome in the Okanagan Valley to celebrate and remember Jordan and scatter his ashes. This special lake property, and the memories associated with it, was Jordan’s favourite place on earth. Our coming together was intermingled with grief, joy, and anticipated loss as we told family stories, wake surfed, enjoyed great food, and had a special golf tournament in Jordan’s honor.
These kinds of life experiences, however sad and challenging, have the potential to strengthen and comfort families by the very act of coming together. Over the weekend, we celebrated birthdays and anniversaries and our family history and heritage, all the while aware that we have loved and lost our grandparents, parents, and now Jordan. A four-generation diagram called a genogram was drawn by my niece on the garage doors to help us remember our family roots.
I believe family resilience is at the core of my family’s Ukrainian heritage. It’s not just a good story about the history of courageous individuals—who, only two generations ago, migrated to a new country and thrived in the midst of many challenges. I believe resilience is actually part of my family’s genes and DNA.
For more information about family resilience, read an article by my colleague, Dr. Froma Walsh: Walsh.Family Reslience.2016
To live in hearts we leave behind, is not to die. ~Thomas Campbell