They say that when it rains, it pours, and that trouble always comes in threes. There are always ups and downs — unexpected things that change your plans and ideas. But in July we had three events that changed our family — each in different ways — and each seemed to shock us more and more.
We started July by going to the funeral of John’s aunt, Theresa. John has shared many stories of how Aunt Theresa came to help his mom when he was born and how she kept him from freezing that cold January. Last winter, we took the kids to the long-term care facility she was in to visit her and her brother, Uncle Eddie. Uncle Eddie passed away earlier this year, and their baby sister, Sister Rosetta, had passed away last fall.
Aunt Theresa was 97 when she passed away. She lived what could be called a full and happy life. She raised a family and was well loved by her children, her grandchildren, and her nieces and nephews.
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Around the middle of August, the John and Mary Reiniger Family Reunion was held. John and Mary were Aunt Theresa’s parents. She was the last of the living siblings. There are more than 500 descendants of John and Mary. They are scattered all over Canada, with some also in the U.S. and in Europe. Almost half of them were registered to attend the family reunion. It was a fun time of visiting with people we know, getting reacquainted with people who Gregory had met as a child, and meeting some for the very first time. It was also a time of celebrating those who have come before us. Aunt Theresa was not able to be with us like we had hoped, but she will be remembered and dearly loved.
The following week we were hit with another loss. I went out to do chores as usual and found our main stallion, Pepper, dead in the pasture. He had not been sick in any way, and his loss was a sudden and unexpected hit. He was not only a huge part of our breeding program but also a dearly loved friend. We took the kids out to say a last goodbye and buried him in the corner of his favourite pasture.
We will never be able to replace Pepper, but thankfully we have been keeping a few fillies over the years and a colt. The experts would have told us that we did it all wrong. In the beginning, instead of selling every foal and making sure our mares were paying for their own purchase price and bringing in a profit, we held back a few fillies and didn’t keep a spreadsheet telling us which mares were “earning their keep.” Today, even though we were not expecting the loss of Pepper, we can look at our herd and see the effects he had for us.
This year we had two Pepper daughters have their first foal. Both were fantastic mothers, and their foals are exactly what we were hoping for. Robin, as we call her, foaled four days after we lost Pepper. It was a beautiful reminder that while we have lost him, we have not lost all that he has given us. He is still here in his daughters and in his two-year-old son that we kept for a future stallion. He is also here in the knowledge and lessons that he had taught to both Joseph and James, who loved him dearly.
We were somewhat expecting the third loss, but it was still difficult to process and accept. On July 17 we received a call telling us Gregory’s niece and goddaughter, Kathryn, had passed away. She was not yet 21 years old. Last winter, she had been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that had spread from her shoulder to both her lungs and then beyond.
We attended her funeral on July 28 in Camrose, Alta. As we came together to pray for Kathryn during her funeral mass, there were people from every part of her life who attended. There were people who had known her personally, but there were also people who knew her sisters or her mother or father. There were also people there who attended because they knew her grandparents, John and Barb. Back at home many neighbours reached out to us to offer their condolences and prayers as well.
We were a community of people of different ages, backgrounds and experiences who came together to pray for Kathryn. We ask that you also pray for her and her family as well.
Throughout these new trials and hardships, there has always been a small glimmer of hope. Once we step back a bit and wipe the tears away, we see it better. We see a family that was blessed to have their mother, grandmother and aunt, and while they will definitely miss her, she left us with her family and memories. Similarly, although our breeding program will never be the same without Pepper, we still have his son and daughters to carry on. We also look forward to two more of his foals next year.
And with Kathryn, it was a loss that the family will never forget, but it was also a coming together of a vastly different group of people. Perhaps through this loss someone will find their faith, either for the first time or through reconnection with one they had left behind in their busy world. Perhaps that is the most awe-striking part: people put aside their busy lives and came together to mourn and pray for Kathryn. We need to come together more and leave the busy world aside for a moment.
