[*asterix*]

Well, even though it's a few days past our usual anniversary remembrance, I thought i'd toss in a thought as and when I presently have the opportunity to be passing through...

Last Thursday, April 24, I was donning my shiny blue nail-polish, as a lovely young girl had once endorsed it and I happened to agree. I took some time to reflect on the place in which my life found me that day, 4 years after the Jellicle Princess took her leave, while Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer took the stage...

It's quite the bind, lately, to be honest... But I try to handle it with the grace and fortitude that having known of people like Toireasa Margaret Ann Barry inspires me to do.
It isn't always simple; the "grace" part certainly eludes me often enough... but that's life. You've gotta take what it throws at you. You've got to persevere... That doesn't always mean you come out with the advantage, but there is vindication in not having given up without earnestly trying. ...
And, if you can, it can really help to be mindful and remember to look outside yourself, too, to the ones you care about and who care for you.

reflecting on the life example set by a bright little girl some years ago, and in the continued and ongoing bravery of a mother who stood by with all her love, I sincerely hope that they would be proud of the strengths carried forward in the lives of all the people they managed to touch.

As one of her favourite places was, as I recall, an Irish pub, i do not think a toast would be entirely inappropriate:
Toireasa, may your sweetness and courage live on in the hearts of all who could use a little of it... Thank you for sharing.

[Rumblepurr]

When I saw this post, I had to refer to a picture on my desktop. The picture shows a smiling young girl, just shy of her fifth birthday thereabouts... In this picture, you do not see the ravishing marks of the disease - the tumors slowly eating her alive... No... you see a little girl, full of life, of love for her mother Julia, and her determination to live as long as she could...

Part of my memories of Toireasa was that although I never met her in person, I was part of a movement to give her some contact with the world through the internet. To do this, 28 members of the CATS Forum got together and established a fund - a fund that bought her a computer and software to make her last year a little nicer... I was the "secretary/treasurer" who received the checks, and then commissioned the computer through Gateway. Because of that, I got to be the one to give Julia the news that Toireasa would be getting a computer... There were tears on both ends of that phone call... When she left our world to be with the angels, I felt as those she touched me in passing as if to thank me for what I did for her... I am certain I was not the only one who felt this touch...

There are many times I am reminded of her... Whenever I feel the pains of a headache, or when my sinuses act up, I have to acknowledge that I am a wuss when I complain of the brief amount of pain I suffer... Take three Excedrin and the pain fades away in time... Toireasa suffered 24/7 for three years before the cancerous tumors took her away from us...

When time came that the disease was about to overwhelm Toireasa, a Scottish Lady (Rio) began to write a story where we, the members of CATS fandom, were able to say goodbye to Toireasa. If you wish, you can read this story here: GOODBYE

Julia lovingly told us of her passing... That she actually fought off a drug-induced coma to be with her mother, and that she said goodbye during the video's Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer song...

Thank you, Alex, for reminding me to remember Toireasa...

Rumblepurr
The Writer Cat.

[tinasattler]

may she rest in pece

[Swan]

Toireasa will never be forgotten.
Last summer, when I was in the USA, I met up with Julia... she took me to her home and showed me Toireasa's room. Pictures, toys, the horse she had named Hope...
New memories, that I added to the old memories. My heart and mind might not always be focused on Toireasa's lesson the way they should be... but the lives that the Jellicle Princess has touched, are not the same as they were before.

Swan

[Jelliclaw]

Rest in peace, Jellicle Princess.
Her story always makes me very sad, but I'm glad that our favorite show gave her some comfort in her short life.
Even though I never talked to her, I do think about her story often.