Photo by Kait Shannon ©2014 Ottawa Canada

It’s been a long haul these past 2 years with an unexpected major life changing event that knocked me back and kept me out of music & life’s fast moving pace.  Losing a child is inexplicable and unimaginable – something you have to experience to understand and I would never want you to experience it to understand.

Photo © Norma Langrish

Learning to cope, to heal, to get back up and on your feet is a process that takes as long as it takes.  Hiding away from it all or keeping so busy you don’t have time to think/feel or drowning yourself in addictive habits are all ways of trying to cope with a pain that is unlike any other pain you have ever experienced.  I chose to hide away in a dark place with a brief manic period of non-stop work then back to solitude.

Standing up, moving forward, sliding back, standing back up again, moving forward, walking slowly, stopping, moving forward – all part of the new normal.  You don’t determine the new normal – it presents itself and you learn how to live in the new normal.

So for now, I am writing music profiles for a couple of organizations and am in the midst of starting up a new business venture which I will announce sometime mid-March.  It’s allowing me to move forward at my own pace and pulling me out of a place of great sadness. 

My song, This Is My Canada/Mon cher Canada, is moving along all on its own – I call it “The Little Song That Could”.  It has surpassed 330,000 YouTube views with no promotion or marketing.  It has taken on a life of its own and I am happy to see that it can stand on its own. Those YouTube views are real views by word of mouth.  Doesn’t get any better than that.

To all my family, friends, fans and supporters – your constant loving support kept me from drowning so so many times.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being patient with me, waiting for me to emerge and never giving up on me.  There is no easy way around this kind of grief.  You have to walk through it, experience the worst kind of pain you have ever felt and learn to find peace, harmony & serenity. 

I promise to be more active on my website with updates and news.  You can also view updates on Kait’s Comfort Kits by clicking on the tab in the upper righthand corner of my website. These Kits are her legacy and bring some comforts of home to patients in some cancer palliative care units.  To date, over 300 Kits have been delivered.

Please feel free to leave a comment below – I always love to hear from you.

Peace & blessings.  Jeanette