So, I feel like this is probably the most important thing that's happened since last we chatted, which is that my aunt Jemi passed away last month. It was ovarian cancer (round 2) and she was only 63, so it totally fucking sucked.
This great picture is from our wedding, where Jemi was gamely participating in our group "first dance".
Jemi was married to my mom's sister, Suki and they were the lesbians you aspire to be, with their top-level hostessing skillz, insane gardening prowess and heart-meltingly adorable lurve. They were totally #RelationshipGoals, is what I'm saying.
Jemi was not interested in a traditional memorial service, so instead, her and Suki's friends organized a pub night to sing, and share stories, and eat, and drink, and laugh, and quietly weep before doing more drinking. Jemi was universally adored and they had a TON of friends in Victoria where they live and all of my hilarious aunts and my hilarious immediate family were there, so it was the PERFECT night. Jemi, you would have LOVED it.
Side note: if you're wondering where the lesbians are, the answer is Victoria. When Suki and Jemi moved there, their lesbian postal carrier was like "LESBIANS!" and introduced them to all of the other lesbians in town and many of them were in attendance that night to celebrate Jemi. I was so jealous, as our postal carrier Dave has NEVER introduced us to other lesbians. Fucking Dave. Anyway, the point is that we've located the lesbians and they're comfortingly nearby.
That night I got to share a short little story about Jemi, from the first time I'd had the pleasure of being hosted by her and Suki, back in 2011, when they lived in Calgary. This...is that story. DUN DUN.
So I was in Calgary for a week-long playwright workshop at Lunchbox Theatre. Prior to this visit, my only experiences with Jemi were at family events, where we all sat around and drank and killed ourselves laughing, so this was the first time I'd experienced the full force of Suki and Jemi's sumptuous hospitality and, as I described at the time, it was prodigious.
The first morning of my stay, Suki had to leave for work, but Jemi had just retired a few months before. So she kept me company over a delicious breakfast (of course she'd been up since the crack of dawn's ass, taking care of some neighbour's diabetic cat). We had a lovely visit but it was a beautiful June day and she was clearly itching to get out in the garden, so as soon as I made a noise about tackling my script, she was out the door.
I sat at their dining room table, facing out on the back yard, procrastinating and drinking tea, wondering if it was too early for the scotch they'd set out in my "writing room". Out of the corner of my eye, something flashed in front of the window. A few seconds later, another flash. I looked up properly and saw Jemi running past, kind of like this, but without the snow. And the tail.
"OH SHIT," I thought, as I leapt fatly to my feet and beetled over to the window, "Jemi's on fire! Or the shed is on fire! Or a neighbour has collapsed in the alley and she's running for help!"
I got my phone out, dialled 9-1, then took a moment to check in on Jemi again. She ran to the back garden bed. Then to the covered garden bed. Then back to the shed. Then back to the first garden bed.
And as I watched for a few more seconds, it dawned on me: She's not on fire. This is the just the SPEED at which THIS WOMAN MOVES.
She was like a cheetah, you guys. A GARDEN CHEETAH. And her hustling around the garden inspired me to get my ass in gear and get writing that day - and for the rest of the week.
I did have some early morning scotch.
Anyway - Jemi was the best kind of human and it feels so fucking unfair that we didn't get many more years with her. She will be sorely missed.
In closing, Jemi was an ardent animal lover - my brother Jaro and his partner Trsm sneaked their large golden doodle, Jasper, into the hospital in a duffle bag to visit her during her last week, which she loved - and this video would have delighted her. Enjoy!
Here comes the fish cuddle! #Caturday #CatsOfTwitter #ThursdayThoughts https://t.co/sox0PrThQa pic.twitter.com/sF3LFse60n
— LOLBOOK (@LOLBOOKcom) November 2, 2017
