Obituary

Stephen Randal Leathem, December 11th 1948 - July 30th 2009, survived by daughter Nicole and son Scott, from wife Debbie, daughter-in-law Allison and her family, step kids George and Eva, from partner Margaret, grand kids Cameron, Diana, Daniel, Angelina and Mathew.
Steve lost his battle with cirrhosis after receiving a donor liver 3 months ago. He passed with peace and calm at VGH transplant ward surrounded by his loved ones. Steve's fight was a respectful and honorable journey. He will be missed, but never forgotten, living in our memories around the family table.
We love you dad.

My Pretend Dad

Last year, God heard a strange unfamiliar voice praying to him. The scene was graphic, an old man lay bleeding out at the foot of his son. 'Grant me one more year with the father I never knew.' It was a simple request. One line that stretched across the heavens and landed on the ears of our compassionate God. Granting the son one more year, God said, 'This journey will be heart wrenching, your patience will be tried, tears shed, laughter unyielding and every ounce of energy will be drained of your flesh. You will know your dad better, you will witness the honor of a dieing mans survival, the price to witness this fight may come high and when you think the journey is over, the waters will calm, and you will become the man your father always knew you were. Then, I will ask him home to rest with me once again.'

To Scott,
Love
Eva
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Parents have a keen sense of what their toddlers are doing when they are little. On the phone, stirring dinner, and a hand miraculously reaches out a split second before the baby hits the ground, without missing a beat. This instinct as the kids grow change, but never forgotten. We still try to stop them from tripping along the way.

I met Steve when I was 16, he moved in with mom and I....all seemed pretty normal. Shortly after, his kids arrived, and then they bought the green house and moved us to Aldergrove. Steve not only took on our family, but our friends. Alfonz was around, Tammy, Billy, Jason, Clint, Danielle, Sterling....all welcome and often stayed their time in the Leathem/Giricz house hold. Not saying is was easy, but it stopped us from hitting the ground.

Steve would answer the door in the middle of the night when we came home. Eventually we climbed in the window, later still, we all got keys, and whenever we boomeranged home, there was always a soft place for us to fall.

Steve treated us well. I remember obscene amounts of presents under the tree at Christmas. Some years you couldn't even see the floor! He loaded us in the berry picking van up to Hope Falls where he taught us to shoot his gun. He travelled to Europe with mom countless times, and took mom and the kids around the states. Steve loved us. In his calm, laid back manor, man of few words, put up with kayos. 4 kids, endless amounts of friends, we were his clan. Steve belonged to us. And in return he stopped us countless times from hitting bottom as a dad does.

To witness the last year of Steve's life was an honor. To watch a man struggle to live, to endure pain, to realize what his life meant to him in all its raw glory, is the stuff that builds character, that teaches the living a lesson of love and humbling strength. We all must take this final journey, and hopefully with reserve, grace and dignity as Steve did.

His final year was truly a gift from god. He mended his ways, asked forgiveness, told everyone that loved him, he too loved them. I marvel at the peace he found. I remember his life, our family life with him, and that is how I will always see him. Around mom's kitchen table, surrounded by endless amounts of food, friends and family fill the chairs, laughter lifting high above. Our family made up of odds and ends, left overs from the modern family dynamic, we found one another, we loved one another, and he was the head of our table.

I love you Steve, my pretend dad. Thank you for being in our life. You will be missed but never forgotten.

With Love,
Eva

Garden Love

So many different types of love in this world, there must be a separate category for garden love. Feet stained from dirt, dirt under nails, nails and knees grass stained.... it must be love! The payoff in the end is always worth it!

The idea is appealing. Step one -grow organic veggies. Step 2 -Pick from the garden. Step 3 -Feed the family. Simple right??

The truth? It's a lot of work!! Double digging the garden for long roots was especially hard. I conveniently threw out my back and mom made her way though stones, plastic waste and clay. Our little 20ft by 10ft plot took her hour after hour to dig up. We added one large load of organic dirt, from a local farmer, to get it level. Then I mixed in our compost from our compost er. We have been saving the waste from the kitchen and garden and adding the beautiful soil it produces to the existing flower gardens for years. This was a very rewarding change in living more green. Just knowing that our clean food waste didn't end up in a land fill. Makes me very happy!! Then we started the plants inside the house from seed. Placing each seed lovingly in to the baby containers. We watched and waited for the magic to begin.

Disappointed, we lost all our fist seedlings. I paid a fortune for them via the inter net. The second round did much better. I figure by next year we'll have it down to an art form. Mom said we were too ambitious and should have done our first year from pre bought plants.....I think I would suggest that to any ones first year..

Alfonz made cold frames to keep the babies warm once they got too big for the deck stand-up hothouse. Long weekend in May they were still getting tucked in at night.
Here are the results of our project.....
Most from seed, we have tomatoes, lettuce along the side of the house by the water barrel. Our largest plot has beans, peas, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kohlrabi, a variety of squash, gourdes and a pumpkin, spinach, strawberries, dill, and cucumbers.
Our herb garden in the triangle shape, has Hungarian wax peppers, hot to mild, 4 kinds of oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley, chives, lemon balm, peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, chervil, and a few others I can't recall....
It's so exciting seeing them take off, survive, and eventually eat. We have enjoyed salad each night for about 3 weeks now, from the herbs and lettuce mix we grew.

I can only hope this trend sticks. My grandparent from Hungary planted their fields, never wasting a thing. My parents in the 70's, a little hippy, but none the less, had beautiful gardens for the course of my childhood. I remember picking sun warmed tomatoes off the vine and sitting on the grass, juice pouring down my neck as I ate. I loved my food then as I do now. The fresher and more wholesome the better.
Happy gardening folks!!

What a year this has been!

Daniel's kindergarten and Angelina's first year of preschool is done. My kids are getting big! It's sad and happy all rolled into one. I can't help but cry my tears of joy whenever they reach a milestone. My love for them is unstoppable. A maternal primal thing, this mama love. I wish every women could experience it in all its vastness.
The ladies met over the last 12 months are welcome additions to our life. Between the Kindergarten moms and newly acquired White Rock friends, life just keeps getting better and better. To surround yourself with such amazing people keeps you growing and learning. I have learned a lot about parenting and patience. I couldn't ask for a more diverse and special group of people that I hope to know for a long long time.

Happy for RAIN!

Alfonz has given the best gift! No not diamonds, not a car...an eco wooden rain barrel! He set it up by my new biointensive veggie garden, and I stummbled across it while showing Tracy the garden over the weekend. It catches rain from the gutters off the house roof and down the water pipe, into my rain catching barrel. I then use the untreated water for the organics in my garden. Far more healthy then chlorine treated city water.
The next step in our overall health will be the infra red sauna. Still looking for a great price. Costco has a sale this month.....never know what's coming next...
eva.

Suma Designs!! New business idea...

My lovely friend Sue and her mother-in-law Ricky, have gone ahead and created a beautiful clothing line. It's a fusion, East meets West, Indian inspired pieces, that flow as you go, with an elegance rarely felt when dressing up. I look like a different person. Most of you know, I am not a fashion person, but the clothes looks great and is comfy. I get up and through on a kimono over my mother uniform (Lulu lemon pants and a tank) and I look polished and together.
At the adult social I wore an off the shoulder shall top and straight leg tie up dress pants, with a few gold accessories and never felt better. Hubby said or looked better!! Nice compliment at 35! Got to love the guy!!
Anyways,
she also make the Schwartzy Crystal flip flop seen in Spas for over $200, but hers are $65 and look exactly he same.
She also does hair extensions, bringing in a line from South Africa, using virgin hair and attaching using a gentle method, reusing the initial investment over and again.....
So....my life has become about fashion for the first time in my life! It's so funny, being this old and caring about what I look life, even wearing makeup at home!! What?!
My point was I hope to invest in her line. I love it that much, even trying to get government grants.....I will be posting a preview of the new line in the not so distant future, and hope to sell for this new and rising company!!!
Suma designs will be coming soon!!! But only cheap for a few more months. Price list and pictures to follow!!

Sunnyside Elementary, Montessori program!

One thing that's a little different, with Angelina in Preschool 3 days a week, and only working Monday and Fridays or Saturdays, it frees up my time to do some charity work. Volunteering at Daniel's school has been so rewarding, but more specifically fundraising. Although he goes to a specialty school, its publically funded, meaning us moms, and some dads, have to raise all the money.
The Adult Social was a blast, way too much fun, and didn't get home until 3:00am! The PAC commity raised $2500 holding back loads of donations for another fundraiser in September.....
So does anyone have any better ideas for fundraising?? I'd love to hear them, really love it....being that I just joined the Surrey Monessori Society, a non profit organization to help train our teachers, and provide materials to the kids to effectively learn this method. I am becoming a bigger fan of Montessori!! Watching Daniel excel naturally in English, and working with hands on tools for Math!! Our Kindergarden teacher happens to be one of the nicest people I've seen teach, makes learning a whole lot of fun!! Daniel goes into the official Montessori grade 1-3 split class in the fall....can't wait for the adventure to begin.
All kids in every economic back ground, any culture, and walk of life can reach their potential in this learning enviroment! Our school is smack dab in the middle of 2 low income housing projects, but our kids do not reflect this. All the children are getting a good footing for life, a great bace and love for learning, with noone left behind. Other schools with this accomplishment, and community feel, come with a $12,000 a year tution, but here its just a love of school that keeps it going. (And fundraising!!) Passed from one parent to the next, as each child finishes their time in the school, many moms still come out to help. Each class has volunteer moms to help the teacher make the Montessori classroom an intimate one.
I love this school. A true unique treasure. It feels like the pupils own their school and respectivily enter our community after as well rounded individuals....can we ask for more from our school?