June's Memorial

June Marie Galicia
April 26, 1972- August 10, 2006

Today I went to June's memorial at her house at Yonge and Sheppard. If you have ever been to a Filipino function, you know how many people attend, and how full you are when you leave.

I find it upsetting that it took June's death for a bunch of us to reconnect. In high school we were soooo close and for some odd reason we never stayed in contact after that. A few did, but not to the extent that good friends do.

It has bothered me for a year about why she died. It doesn't make any sense to me. Tonight I spoke to Cristina, a friend I haven't seen for 10-12 yrs. She gave me a different perspective which was so welcomed by my befuddled brain. She said that if you asked the 40 people in the room how many people have had cancer, you would have a few hands go up. It's just that June's cancer (uterine) was one of the hardest to fight, and that was the unfortunate component. Others that have had prostate, breast, skin and thyroid, have fought it and won. It was such a simple statement, but it has done wonders for my mind.

As I looked around at the pictures on the wall, many of them were of June when she was going through treatment. She was wearing scarves on her head, and was easily 30 lbs thinner than normal. She did NOT have 30 lbs to lose either. It broke my heart. I hadn't seen the family in at least 15 yrs....and yet they welcomed me as though no time had passed. A truly wonderful group of people.

I will not let important people out of my life in the future. I will make the extra effort, because life is short and before you know it, time runs out.