My Journey With My Best Friend
I had no idea when my friend asked me to come over and help clean her home on Dec 31st , 2014 for her annual New Year’s Eve party that it wasn’t to clean; it was to tell me that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I remember being dumbfounded as we wept in each other’s arms. She explained that the lump she had assumed to be yet another cyst was determined by a biopsy to be breast cancer.
Despite my anger as I entered the New Year, I knew I had to find a way to channel that fire into reforming Greta’s world, one little stepping stone at a time. So we rang in the new year shouting, “Happy New Year” and the journey with my best friend began. I was determined that I would be the steadfast rock of strength she has always been because I knew that her world was about to crumble.
Knowing I was a certified decorator and graduate of Durham College, my friend asked me to bring my colour samples over and help her select a new colour for her family room. At the time, it was red and despite her passion for red, she didn’t feel it was the colour she wanted to recover in while undergoing treatment. She chose instead to envelope herself in the healing colour of green. To her it just felt right as she sampled my colours. No other change was requested as she felt the soothing shade would be enough. So together my friend, her daughter and I had the room painted within a few hours while watching television, eating pound cake and laughing. I accompanied my friend to chemotherapy, helped her select a wig and supported her any way I could.
During this time my heart was drawn to create a decorating business that would resonate with the recovery process of other cancer patients as it had with my friend’s healing.
It was during our visit to Hearth Place, a cancer support centre in Oshawa that my heart’s quest expanded. While sitting with her in the “Look Good, Feel Better Program” it was reaffirmed to me that I was to decorate the homes of children and adults living with cancer as a means of supporting their journeys. This is where I wanted to direct my energy. “It’s All About Hue” was the first name that came to mind as the idea manifested.
Watching my friend’s healing journey gave me first-hand knowledge of the expenses incurred by a family dealing with a cancer diagnosis. You see, my friend was fortunate. She had excellent benefits, critical illness insurance and an employed spouse but the bills were still accumulating. What if this were me I wondered? How would others manage? The name of my business transformed to “Home Healing Hues”.
Upon completion of radiation and chemotherapy in the summer of 2015, my friend was motivated to expand her “healing hues” environment beyond the family room and into her sleeping space. She desired a new space clear of the energy of her treatment. Refreshing this important part of her home began with our search for bedding. She knew she wanted something joyful and, interestingly enough was always drawn to a brilliant mix of colour complemented by the healing hue of green. I transformed her space with cheerful bedding and paint in the colour of her heart chakra, green. As I write this we are embarking on yet another project, the metamorphosis of a spare room into a meditation space where she yearns to embrace a blue colour palette.
My motto is, “To each his or her own hue.”
Some people will discover that yellow makes their soul sing while others, like my friend, will resonate with the earthy shades of green. Whatever the shade or hue, my hope is to support and inspire healing through the transformation of an inside or outside space that is personally selected by you, the client.
My friend Greta’s strength and her courageous spirit have propelled me to focus my energy on helping others with their journey. By surrounding you with hues that cultivate healing I aim to inspire and support you as you discover your spirit and courage. I believe we inherently possess all we need to meet life’s challenges. Revealing your healing hue is part of the quest. I simply need the opportunity to guide you.