Colleen Brathwaite
I was overjoyed when Jackie when Jackie and I reconnected in 2009 just before the grand Foundation School reunion in Barbados. We hadn't spoken since leaving school so many years before and heading to different corners of the world, but it was the same wonderful, positive Jackie that I knew at Foundation. I was stunned to hear she had continued playing netball all those years and that her health was perfect and that she had devoted her life to the noble profession of teaching. We talked when she happily retired in June 2010 and looked forward to heading to T&T for a while. Ceilia, she and I talked about coming to see her in Vancouver, but alas, we didn't know what was waiting around the corner.
Jackie fought a valiant battle over these six years, and though she struggled to speak, she would never forget to say "thank you for calling." Now she's gone way too soon.
Perhaps these words will be of comfort:
You can shed tears that she is gone.
Or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back, or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see her, or you can be full of the love that you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday, or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her and only that she is gone, or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back, or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.
Fondest regards,
Colleen (Jackie's classmate at Foundation School in Barbados).
Saturday September 10, 2016 at 12:53 am
