My dearest Family and Friends,
Greetings from our garden where blossoms are abounding today.
This week our garden is putting on quite a show....a fortnight too late for our Brunch, thanks to the weatherman who pushing aside the rains, sent us lovely sunny weather from 8th to 10th June, but couldn’t keep the cold out for the flowers to put on their show......I am not complaining as I am so grateful. I’m sending you a few pictures I just took especially to accompany this note to each and everyone of you with lots of love and blessings.
SO HERE IT IS:- THANK YOU, ONE AND ALL, WHO CAME IN FULL FORCE TO CELEBRATE OUR 50TH ANNIVERSARY WITH US.... AND THANK YOU TOO, TO THOSE OF YOU WHO BROUGHT or SENT GIFTS IN YOUR CARDS DESPITE THE ‘NO GIFTS’ MEMO IN THE INVITATION CARD.
Mike and I are most appreciative of all your efforts in making
day so special....we love you all. Please accept our sincer
est thanks. ALSO, SPECIAL THANKS TO our daughter ANNA MARIE who sang like an angel the Mass; Mother Gloria and the Sisters who formed the choir; Jim and Chris,[ Mike’s brother] who were the lectors; Suzie and Danny [yvette’s cousin from Toronto ] who took up the Offertory gifts; Sophia [m&y’s grand-daughter] for being the flower girl/ring bearer par excellence; Earnie Curry [sacristan] for our Mass... you all made the Mass so very special. Thanks again.
The photos and videos taken by Ben, Archie, Michael, Danny and Miriam are superb. Ben is putting them all together for us as an electronic gift which we will share with you as soon as we receive it. Thank you guys for your superb efforts.
AND, Ben, thank you for coming all the way from London England to be with us. Your music together with that of Stephen were out of this world. Thank you too, Jenn [Stephen’s wife], nephew David, Nellie Cypher [master-chef], and Paul Rafuse , Sheila Redden [musician], Meghan and Maria, Ann and Colin MacDonald who rushed at the last minute to the airport to bring our Joseph to our party on time as his plane had been seriously delayed, Luke Coady and Family, and everyone of the 100 guests who attended, including our dear friends, Most Reverend Bishop Brian Dunn, Fr. Bill Crispo celebrant of that beautiful Mass at the Monastery, Fr. Andrew Gillies, and of course our children Aleixo and Debra, Little Joseph and Rachel; Anna Marie and David, Mikaela and Sophia, and Joseph , whose family were with us in absentia. Mike and I were most honoured to have you in our midst on this our special day, made even more special by your presence.
I must here add a very special THANK YOU to Family and Friends who could not make it to our Party, but sent beautiful cards, some with Masses for us, and even with most generous gifts to us, and some to charitable organizations. Thank you everybody including all the attendees at our celebrations, for your most beautiful cards and loving messages to us, and also for your gifts including fine wines and floral bouquets, and for the gift cards to fine dining in the Antigonish area. [Naughty. Naughty.] Be assured that we love you as much as you do, us. Thank you with all our hearts, and may God shower you with as many blessings as He has showered upon us. Mea culpa if I have accidentally omitted anyone.
HOWEVER, I must add here, the most special effort our son JOSEPH made to be with us at our Anniversary as our MC. He had left Vancouver on Thursday night on the red-eye flight to Montreal where his connection was cancelled and he almost missed the party. Joseph, my miracle baby, performed his MC duties with panache despite fatigue and stressful travelling. I am ever-so proud of our Joseph. Thank you Sweetheart...you did us proud.
And, whilst we are on the subject of Thank You’s, we cannot forget our son Aleixo and his family in attendance whom we were very lucky to have in our midst as ALEIXO was leaving on the Tuesday following the party , for Shanghai China where he received an honourary professorship from the University of Shanghai for his life-saving research work and treatment of ill children with IBD illnesses. You can just imagine what the size of my, nay, my and Mike’s hearts and brains are even as I am writing this. .... and as I boastfully tell everybody in jest, ‘all my children take after their mother’ ... the emphasis is on ‘my’....ha ha....Thank you God. Mike knows exactly how our hearts feel about our three blessings from heaven, namely our children. We are most humbly proud.
It is quite evident from the camaraderie that was made manifest at all three parts of the celebration, that we are so blest to have the best Family, All, and Friends, All, on the planet. I cherish, with Mike, the royal welcome and friendship you all gave me/us , fifty years ago which still continues to blossom as evidenced at our Anniversary celebration. Bless you.
Father McCambridge [ Holy Ghost Fathers from ireland] and Sister Bernadette [White Sisters of Africa from Quebec] must be saying from heaven ‘Thank God Yvette didn’t listen to us way back in East Africa when we tried to dissuade her from marrying Mike..we are so proud of her . God was , and is with them.’... and Father Blackledge [Holy Ghost Fathers from Ireland] must be smiling too from heaven, saying, ‘ I knew she could do it, and I love her all the more for listening to me when I married her to Mike in 1968...their’s was a marriage made in heaven.’ To that I’ll add, ‘I do believe that The Holy Spirit, in whom I trust, guided and continues to guide all my efforts par excellence. May God keep you , All , my dearest friends from East Africa, now in heaven, safe in His loving care, forever.’ Asante sana, as they say in Swahili.... Thank you very much for believing in me.
However, before closing this note of thanks,I must here make special mention of my dearest cousin Suzie and her husband Danny Pinto, who came from Toronto like two angels who helped me set up for the Safari party in the afternoon after the Mass, and also take it down and transport everything back to our home. Their supreme acts of kindness endeared them even more to us and we are now proud in the realization that both Suzie and Danny are now our dearest sister and brother. We salute them.
And, the piece-de-resistance is this: - If Mike had given up in his quest to win my heart fifty years ago there might not have been a 50th celebration...right? ...and as the song goes I do believe ‘LOVE IS A MANY SPLEDOURED THING’.... keep praying for us that the next fifty years will be as wonderful as the first. And, by the way, I sang TAMMY’S IN LOVE just for Mike, my special angel, my mother called St. Michael. I guess my mother was right. All mothers are, aren’t they? ‘Love you Mum, now in heaven.’... AND....Love you too ‘Mictu.’
Until next time, THANK YOU EVERYBODY WITH ALL MY HEART AND MIKE’S TOO.
Greetings to All.
I
am sharing this news just sent in to us by our son Aleixo, who after
celebrating our Golden Anniversary with us this past weekend here in
Antigonish, flew to China on Tuesday, where he received a significant
honour ....that of honorary professorship, and promotion as professor of
the university, from their University in recognition of his research
work in VOIBD at the Children’s Hospital in Shanghai. Aleixo has been
sharing his research with countries around the world where he has been
invited to speak on the progress and findings of his life-saving
research in children’s GI DISEASES as professor at the University of
Toronto and GI SPECIALIST AT SICK KIDS . I hope I am reporting this
correctly. Aleixo was invited to speak in China last year . You can get
more details from the U.ofT. and, SICK KIDS HOSPITAL web-site.
Please
see the attachments in this and the next email from China I am
forwarding to you with great pride and admiration for our son Aleixo.
Love and blessings.
D
D
D
SPECIAL NOTE TO BEN AN BETTY
... THANK YOU BEN AND BETTY AND ALL YOUR FAMILY FOR THE LOVELY GIFT OF THE BLOG/WEBSITE YOU ARE ASSEMBLING FOR US AND WHICH WE ARE AWAITING ITS ARRIVAL WITH MOST GRATEFUL HEARTS. WE’RE SURE IT’S GOING TO BE A HIT WHICH WE WILL SHARE WITH ALL OUR FAMILIES AND FRIENDS.
THANK YOU. ASANTE SANA
LOVE
YVETTE AND MIKE