Best stories

Share on

Here are the best entries

  • Susan Burton, Alberta

    Bringing sunshine into the loves of my life is different from year to year. This year, I am deployed to Afghanistan and it can be difficult to stay in touch. I have Internet access and so I decided to put out the little extra so that I would be able to phone my family and friends and hear their voices live. Sunshine for me this year is calling my family and friends, (I call my husband twice daily), and letting them know that they are in my thoughts and that I miss them. It helps them to know that I am safe and sound and that I care about those left at home. Sunshine is saying hello every day to everyone I pass on my way to and from my work place here on this camp, even though I do not speak the language of most of the soldiers here (I am working with an Italian group right now). After having been here for a couple of weeks, they now respond too, with smiles. Sunshine is letting those I can not phone know that I miss them also, with cute little cards and letters, albeit via email. Sunshine is smiling at the locals here when they come in for medical checkups and are curious about this blonde, blue eyed female working with the military. My mother-in-law is the happiest person I have ever known, although she has had tragedy and illness in her life, so I strive to be like her. I try to have a positive outlook and be happy every day. You have to give into life what you would want back, and so I give friendship and positive attitudes to those around me.

  • Tatiana Kalashnikova, Quebec

    I will tell you a story about my husband, Marc. He lost his mother to cancer, and it was a very big loss to him and his father, Trevor. She used to knit red woolen hats for Trevor, and he would wear only them in winter. After a few years since the mother's death, this last red hat was so worn out that it fell apart... Then Marc went and bought some red woolen yarn and learned how to knit. He figured out himself how to make the same design and made a new red hat for Trevor, and he gave it to him for Christmas. Isn't it a wonderful way to bring warm memories into the life of someone you love?

  • Erin Steed, Ontario

    I write stories with my six year old. He dictates the story and I write it down. I leave room for pictures on each page. I loosely illustrate the story and he colours the pictures in. He's brought a couple stories in to school and he's been lucky to have had teachers who have taken the time to share them with the class. Joshua is so proud to have his friends enjoy something he's worked so hard to create. And I am so fortunate to have shared that special time with him.

  • Susan Coultis, Alberta

    Hi ,
    Something I liked to do when my kids were little was to warm their beds. Before the time of Magic Bags, I used to use hot water bottles. Before they went to bed I put them in the bed .They were a pain to fill and got cold when the heat went out of them.When we discovered magic bags, it became the easy way. A quick zap in the microwave did the trick. They hold the heat much longer. I put them in the bottom of the bed where their feet would be .Or on their pillow if they were sick. Then they wrapped them by their neck.Once someone said I spoiled the kids by warming the beds!
    Now the kids are gone from home and sometimes I heat the bag slightly and lay them on our miniature dachshunds backs. They LOVE heat and burrow under our blankets at nite. The long magic bag goes right down their backs.

  • Vicki McCart, Ontario

    I show interest in EVERYTHING they do even if I disagree, I will call them and encourage them on every project whether it is baking, cooking, crafts, sewing and their children. Whatever they need I am there for them and I try to tell them everyday...

  • Melinda Grant, Alberta

    There are 2 special people in my life that I enjoy bringing sunshine to. The first is my 19 year old daughter. She was born with spina bifida and is confind to a wheelchair and needs lots of personal and medical care. To bring her sunshine I do everything in my power to keep her health and out of hospitals and I do lots of silly and crazy things just to make her laugh, cause I love to hear that laugh. I will do stuff like pretend I am a little tipsy or throw popcorn at the dog, I know these sound really silly, but hey if it makes her happy that is all that matters. Also I make sure that we take her to her best friend's house on a regular basis. The other special person in my life is my hubby of 23.5 years. Well there is lots of things I do to bring sunshine to his life, tee hee, but the one thing I can share with you is that I love to cook his favorite food (I also do this for my daughter). I don't have a job, instead I have spent my life bringing sunshine to my dear hubby and daughter, and this in turn brings sunshine to my life!

  • Kimberley Showman, Alberta

    This is not really a story about how I bring sunshine into my loved ones life, but how we bring love into each others lives:

    Both my husband and I work in the health care profession. I am a paramedic and he is an RN who, for the past 8+ years, has been working with children, with cancer. Unfortunatly, we where unable to have our own children, so we opted to have careers in the health care profession to help others. My husband likes to remind me that we do have children, children of all ages...the children he gets to help each day at work and the children I come into contact with at work. We all have a child somewhere inside us. Everyday when I talk to him in person, by phone or by text, I always tell him how special he is to me and that "I love him, very much." We do not get a lot of time together because of our schedules, but when we do, we make sure that we spend that time holding on to each other (lots of hugs) and talk about all the good things we have experienced and the good things we will be experiencing down the road.

    Thank you,
    Kim Showman

  • Jennifer Conneely, Alberta

    I have a two year old son who isn't talking yet. We are worried, but confident that he will start speaking with some sort of early intervention. With my daughter, I'd always whisper in her ear "psst....I love you" and it became a family saying. My boy can only say, "psst....mom" but I know what he means. We bring sunshine to each other.

  • Irene Whitty, Nova Scotia

    We lost our angel Conner in a house fire almost 3 yrs ago. One day I was going on a plane to Alberta, and my oldest grandson Dwayne asked me if I see his brother in the clouds could I bring him home, he said he loved him and really missed him, he is only 8. So with a chocked up voice I told him Connor was up there with God, looking over him and that someday we would all meet him again. With a big hug he said, nanny don't cry, God is looking after him.

  • Tara Ritschard, Nova Scotia

    Every morning when my little girl (Sadie, one year old) wakes up we cuddle in my bed for just five minutes and that makes her happy as pie...and then we sneak down the stairs and around the corner into the kitchen where Grammie (my mother lives with us) is having her morning coffee. My Sadie giggles and squeels when she sees my mother and it's wonderful to see my mother's smile light up when she hears Sadie and I come into the kitchen. Sadie is all of our little ray of sunshine every day!