Good Sunday Morning,
This letter is all about gratitude. Thanks to all at Shoreline Medical and the Saanich Peninsula Hospital. Even without a family doctor and with all we know about a health care system in crisis, I received the best of care when I needed it. Thanks to every doctor, nurse, lab tech and orderly. I am so grateful for the wonderful care I received. Thanks to everyone who has sent notes and well wishes and phoned to share love and support. It all means the world to me as I recover from a near miss. So the first deep gratitude is for what my doctor describes as incredible good luck. I have been incredibly lucky. This report from the Globe and Mail is quite accurate:
Including in noting that the day I spoke with Ian Bailey by phone, my day had started with a phone call from the prime minister, moments after his plane touched down on his return from Lithuania. I was very touched by his kindness and concern and was happy to reassure him, as I do readers on this Sunday morning, that I am just fine. Amazed by the events of June 29th and my amazingly close call – grateful for the assessment of my doctors that no damage was done. By the way, while I was talking with Ian Bailey, his phone alarm went off with an Ottawa area Tornado warning, bringing me to what I am sure we have all been tracking this week in continued dangerous extreme weather events:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/extreme-weather
My gratitude to whatever accounts for a serious medical event leaving me unscathed. I will (no surprise to those who know me) attribute a miraculous near miss to the Lord, to prayers and to the unknowable. But I recognize that being so extremely lucky I have an obligation not to over-play my hand. Now that I have a doctor, I am following doctor’s orders and enjoying a break in my work load.
Thanks to Jonathan Pedneault for covering many Green events while I am on this unscheduled break. No surprise that I am so immensely grateful to John Kidder for so many things! Our marriage is still so new – four years in, that I almost have to pinch myself to realize in facing something like this, I am no longer on my own. John looks after me and spoils me rotten. Plus thinking about being guest writer for Good Sunday Morning. It was a load off my mind to know John could break the news that your indomitable MP does have limits! And I hit them. I am so grateful for his extraordinary love and care – I am so lucky. I also had a lovely visit from my daughter Cate who turns 32 years old tomorrow July 17. My recovery was aided (I think) by one of my favourite ever activities – losing in Scrabble to Cate! On her way out the door to her ferry she played her third 7 tile word of the game, scooping up another 50 point bonus. Again, and again, this letter is about gratitude.
I am so very grateful for this life of mine and everyone in it. Thanks especially to my whole team – Alexa and the Sidney team, my right hand in all things, Debra Eindiguer, and the Caucus team – Mike and Asha, and my amazing Green Party family – Marlene and Kevin and JP and everyone!
I attach this Globe and Mail article from the last interview I squeezed in at the end of the parliamentary sitting. If you had not heard, we lost a truly great Canadian and British Columbian at the end of June. I was honoured to know Stephen Owen:
There is much more to say about my chats across party lines with other MPs. Fair to say we all agree we would all have better health if parliament functioned better and we eliminated the toxic partisanship that plays out in the nonsense of routine 19 hour days of political games of chicken.
At least, I will be pushing for first aid and routine checks. Since we do have nurses available on Parliament Hill, we should be sure we are monitored when routine working hours become unhealthy. The only newsy bit from my call with the prime minister was his strong sense that we are not close to the next election. As much as years away was the sense I got.
Love,
Elizabeth
—
Saanich-Gulf Islands Greens
https://www.sgigreenparty.ca/