We All Have Wings

One of my early newsletters from the shoppe August 2019.

The magical moments that have entered the shoppe since I opened May 23rd have been such a gift to myself, as well as to the shoppe.  Some time ago I posted on my Facebook Page the story of my backdrop mural which I would like to share as I am sure some of you have not made it to the page and it has a new chapter I wish to share.

The story begins with my parents, first my Dad (Donald) being of Scottish descent (Dundee, Scotland) and my Mom (Victoria) from Poland.  My father passed away when I was 14 years old and my Mom passed almost 8 years ago.  When my Mom died I was hit with the shattering realization of being an Orphan.  How does one go in to the wounding of being an orphan at the time in your life where you don’t even pay attention to your age anymore.

My Mom was born in Poland surviving the war. I miss her each and every day since she passed almost 8 years ago. I went through life with many ups and downs as my Mom and I did the dance of life together.

Losing my Mom I lost a huge piece of myself, or so I thought. I realized I would never be introduced as a daughter ever again as my Dad passed when I was 14. I remember crying over the fact I would never hear those proud words of, ‘This is my daughter Patrice.’

Yes I was a Mom, a sister, a cousin, a niece, a friend This, a neighbour, a businesswoman. The hard truth I was faced with was I was no longer a daughter.

Until this day when I started preparing my shoppe Happy Place in Brighton, Ontario.

One of my sadnesses was realizing my Mother would never see I actually made my dream come true. That all my plans I shared with her would never be seen by her except from Heaven. Well in the back of my front counter of the shoppe I was wanting to put a mural up that represented something magical for everyone that came to visit. What I didn’t expect was to get a sense of who I was when it arrived in the mural packaging.

This mural shouted out to me and through me all the way in to my heart and every cell in my body. I knew with everything in me, that my Mom showed up to have my back as I started this beautiful shoppe and place of healing. I was healing that day when I looked at the address of the mural I ordered from a company in Canada. Canada had it made and shipped from Poland. MY MOM made sure she made it into my shoppe to help me in creating a magical healing place for everyone. My Mom smacked me upside the head again when I least expected it.

This day I realized I was still a daughter! “ I was a daughter and never stopped being a Daughter.” My Mom may not have been able to be beside me at this milestone but she sure made sure she was able to say “ This is my daughter and I will be here always”

My Mom greets me every morning when I walk in and greets everyone that comes to visit.

Thank you Mom for giving me the biggest and greatest sign, that I am where I am meant to be.

To anyone who reads this and feel you are missing a piece of yourself. Please know you are not missing a piece, it just is in the magic of the smallest signs that nudges you ever so softly.

You all are so amazing!

Well so the story of this magic continues as I go from being an orphan to a daughter again and then to having both my parents back in my world.

There has been some pulls on my heart strings the last month which we all know of.  Two weeks ago I decided to give LuLu her wings on the Remembering Our Angels wall as lets face it, she was a part of this shoppe as much as I am.  This wall was meant for our dear ones who have passed and even though Lu was the shoppe pup she was still an Angel who deserved her wings.  As I looked up at my Moms wings and my pups wings I was hit with a heaviness of my father not having his wings.  I made a conscious decision not to add his wings to the sacred wall back in June as I have a brother with his namesake.  I decided I could never live with myself if upon putting up Donald Burns, something dreadful would happen with my big brother.   So I left it be and I didn’t even mention this to my brother.

The same day LuLu received her wings I sat in my little seating area doing some work feeling a little melancholy.  In walked a lady I had never met before and she went right over to the crystal area looking through the various items.  As we were speaking with her back to me I could hear a Scottish accent and inquired where in Scotland she was from.  Right then and there my heart started to dance as she stated ‘Dundee’ and in my ears I heard my Dad.  Could this be happening again?  Has my father found his way into my shoppe to say “I am proud of you and I am not going anywhere”.  This lovely lady walked over as I had tears in my eyes and embraced me, whispering in my ear “There, now you have Dundee all around you”.  WELL!!! Yes the tears flowed as I looked up to see my Mothers Mural and at that exact moment I knew both my parents were standing beside me in my shoppe.  

For me someone walking in to the shoppe from Dundee is like me going to the UK and meeting someone with an attachment to Brighton or even Northhumberland County.  This lady has no idea the gift she gave me that day as she just stumbled on to my shoppe with her husband having an appointment down the plaza.  This beautiful gift left and came back 30 minutes later to grace me again with her light.  

The last time I felt the presence of both my parents in my life other than when I was 14 years old was back in Scotland 2 years ago.  Another magical reunion where a stranger gifted me with a special conversation in both Gaelic and Polish by complete surprise without even knowing where my parents were from.  This man looked like the Wizard of OZ which made it even more real and special for me.   

So now needless to say my father is getting his wings up on our ‘Remembering Our Angels Wall.'  Far be it for me to deny my Dad his wings when he travelled so far to smack me up the side of the head just like my Mom.  I called up my brother Donnie last week to let him know about my denying our Dad his wings and he gave me that giggle he so often gives me when he knows exactly who I am.  So we have decided to give our Dad his wings with the name of Donald Burns Sr.

Please come by anytime if you wish to have someone you love and miss added to our wall of Angel Wings.  The Angels are such a blessing in the Happy Place Shoppe and I would love to hear about them if you wish to share.