I must admit that I was not ready for the first meeting I had with Bev this week, meeting the mother of a fallen soldier was not just an incredible honour but also a very deeply moving and very personal experience.
When I say I was not ready for it, one must remember that the project was not even officially launched and here I was already meeting with the mother of one of our Canadian Heroes.
That told me how important this song must have meant to her.
But, the first meeting started and we chatted, and then I asked her if she wanted to hear the song.
I played the song and briefly glanced over to see how she was going to react to it, I was a little nervous in a way on how she was going to react.
The song played and then ended and I could tell that it touched her heart.
We talked quietly for awhile, and she showed my a picture of her son and two buddies, the picture was taken just before he was killed.
Just before all 3 of them where killed actually.
Holding her sons picture in my hands was an honour.
Over the span of a couple of hours she told me the story on how her son was killed, and some background info on what he did and we even managed to have a laugh or two, the laughs where welcomed, they cheered us both up a bit.
Needless to say, we discussed a few things we could do next, and in a matter of a week, she called together a bunch of family members of serving and fallen families and we met yesterday for a private viewing of the Canadian Heroes song.
Getting ready for the meeting was started immediately but not completed till the last minute before my honoured guests arrived.
The persons that I was hoping to help me out vanished, but others stepped up to the plate in a heartbeat, and we worked around the clock getting our meeting place ready for our guests.
The grounds where cleaned, furniture bought ( and hastily put together thanks Ken), and my number 1 ( Kim) worked late into the night and started early in the morning, ordering food, drinks, buying appliances, flowers and cleaning the house top to bottom.
If you get the feeling we where sort of moving into an empty house you would be correct!!!
It was now just before 2pm and a car pulled in and Kim shouted out that it was our people that have done some preliminary t-shirts, golf shirts, pullovers and other merchandise with our Canadian Heroes logo on it.
I had heard that he was very moved by the project, so I thought I would play the song for him, and he also loved the song.
This gentlemen by the way believes in the Canadian Heroes project so much that he basically stopped doing everything else he was doing just to complete the order for us.
He also was giving us the materials at his cost.
That's what I call a Patriotic Canadian.
He arrived with 4 boxes, overflowing with goodies, and we quickly looked through them and then he and his son where gone, as fast as he came, they left, knowing our guests where to arive at any minute.
Just before our scheduled 2 pm meeting, the last coffee table was assembled, the chairs set, coffee was brewing and we awaited our guests.
They all arrived at about the same time.
Introductions were made, coffee and deserts where served, and then I played the song for them.
The emotional responce was immediate.
They loved it.
Tears where flowing freely, we talked a lot about the song, how it was put together, and what we could do with it.
It was quite the day.
We covered a lot of ground that day, and when everyone was leaving I gave them all t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts and we said our goodbyes.
I knew we had something much more than just a song when I heard it for the first time, and this meeting confirmed it.
The real work now begins.
http://www.canadianheroes.com
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
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