<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Don’t you love arriving at just the right place without knowing it was where you were headed?</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> Becoming a Funeral Celebrant is not something I could have predicted – but it turns out to be the</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> perfect expression of my own life story.</span>

<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Growing up in Legal, Alberta before moving to Edmonton , I always knew that I wanted to be of</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> service to others. I was involved in many aspects of the community as a young person and adult.</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> I have worked in different sectors of health and have always enjoyed meeting people in all walks</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> of life.</span>

<span style="font-size: 18pt;">A few years ago out of the blue I had a thought that I should check out the possibility of</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> becoming a Celebrant. After some online research I enrolled in a Funeral Celebrant certificate</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> course from the In-Sight Institute that was being held in Calgary, a program widely recognized</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> by funeral directors. After the first hour of lectures I knew in my heart that is what I was meant</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> to be doing and have not looked back as I have found my calling and am truly grateful.</span>

<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I experienced a lot of grief in my own life having lost close friends in a car accident in my teens,</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> my younger sister and dad from cancer, my brother in law recently from a sudden heart attack</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> and other family members and friends. I have walked down that deep dark valley of grief. My</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> own life experience and circumstances have paved the way to this profession where I can now be</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> of support to others. The purpose in my life now is to help families start the process of healing</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> and to create a meaningful service.</span>

<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I have always enjoyed meeting and connecting with people. Being a Celebrant has allowed me to</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> share compassion and empathy. It has made me realize that we all have a story and each life</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> story matters. My responsibility is to make the deceased person’s farewell one that is</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> meaningful and purposeful for those that are left behind as they share memories. Funeral</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> Ceremonies create a safe resting place for our most complicated feelings of grief or trauma, and</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> we share that with others who are in attendance. A Celebration of Life is not a day in a lifetime,</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> it is a lifetime in a day.</span>

<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Robert Stolorow says it well in these words: ““Grief that is dismissed, suppressed, or silenced</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> harms individuals, families, and communities.” A good Celebration of Life/Funeral/Memorial</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> does the opposite of suppressing…it brings those emotions to the surface and honors them.</span>

<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I have found this to be so true in all kinds of difficult situations in my role as a Celebrant and</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> when I worked as a College Chaplain in New Zealand where my family and I lived for ten years.</span>

<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Grief I’ve learned is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat and in the hollow</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.</span>
<span style="font-size: 18pt;"> – Jamie Anderson.</span>

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