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| My sister Jane's little aluminum Christmas tree with my lights and decoration. For Jane with love |
I was not going to put up a Christmas tree this year, for very obvious reasons to anyone who has been following this tribute-site to my sister Jane-Ellen. I spent Christmas Eve with my sister last year, not wanting to believe that it would be Jane's and our last Christmas together. I did several posts about that horrific time in our lives, and I am not going to write about it anymore, it is too painful. I did not put up Christmas trees for several years after our brother Jimmy and our Mother Lois died respectively. I found Jane's tree in a plastic bag with other mementos of Jane's that I managed to save in February, while closing up my sister's home. I then realized why I had to put up this Christmas tree, and why there was no way that I could not put it up. To understand why, you must read the story below......
December 10th 2010...... It was Jane's birthday, and I knew that I had to visit her. Jane had just had intense chemo, and was suffering from many other physical and emotional issues due to her cancer. I was at work in the morning, and was anxious to leave, when my boss came to my desk and said...."Michael, go now, your sister needs you". I am so grateful to her for that, the compassion that only most women have. I gathered Jane's present, card and several bags of food, and left quickly. I had just seen Jane two days before, she had been in alot of pain, so I did not know what to expect. Of course, we had talked several times on the phone since then, but I was still worried about my sister. I arrived by noon to find an amazing surprise. Jane was sitting up in her hospital bed, (which was in her living room), and she was made up and dressed up to see me. Jane smiled, and said.... "Hi Honey!".... the way that she always did, and I was so taken aback to see that (despite her obvious pain), Jane had cleaned her kitchen and living room immaculately, and that everything was shining like her beautiful smile. We hugged, and then I saw that Jane had taken out her little artificial Christmas tree (put it together and up), and fully decorated it with ornaments and lights. I was so in awe of her ability to find the strength to do all of this alone, and in her then fragile condition. I am so glad that I was there to share that day with my beautiful sister, we had a warm and wonderful time. I never heard Jane complain about her pain or other issues. Never once in all of her fight with cancer, did my beautiful sister ever, ever say "Why me?'.......never.
Despite the unbelievably bad and unfair conditions of that time, my sister still put up her Christmas tree. She still believed in hope, faith and love, and was never bitter, as so many other individuals in her position would have been. I will never forget that day as long as I am on this Earth, nor will I ever forget my sister Jane and her bravery in that time. Jane faced everything with a quiet and dignified reserve that I have rarely seen before in all of my volunteer work, or in my life in general.
Now you can understand why, there is no way that I would not put up my sister Jane's Christmas tree this year, on her birthday, just as my sister did last year. Thank you for reading our words today. Love and light to you.
