Daniel and I recently celebrated several anniversaries, including the day we met and the day we got married. We decided to celebrate by going out for dinner at a neighbourhood French restaurant.

You might think I’m looking pretty happy and healthy. You’d be right. In fact, yesterday my doctor thought I looked ‘vibrant’ — her exact word.

I haven’t had a shock in my mouth/face for over six weeks. I’m still taking medications for it as I don’t really want the emotional trauma that comes with the shocks. In the meantime, I am feeling better than I have felt for years.

I made additional changes in my diet after coming back from California in February. I have been following The Wahls Protocol and I think these are good results. The basic premise is to use food as medicine.

Currently, I am participating on a facebook group with Dr. Wahls and Leanne Ely. They are sharing menus with us and providing us with encouragement, more information and support. I am over-the-moon happy with the attention we’re all receiving. We’re sharing photos of our food and it’s such a privilege to be participating in this new way of getting healthier.

I am still praying every day and I have lots of people praying for me. I am filled with gratitude for these recent improvements.

I love this photo of Barbara (right) as a young woman, travelling to Seattle with a friend. Growing up she was called “Dede” but I don’t believe she was known by that nickname after she moved to Ontario.

I didn’t know my aunt Barbara very well. She moved to Ontario before I was born and came back to Vancouver a couple of times in the late 60s and early 70s. I remember her cooking liver and onions, a dish my mother (Maureen) never made.

The three Evans girls were all interested in music and drama. All had blue eyes. Barbara and Maureen were blonde, Betty brunette. Barbara was interested in pursuing a career in theatre and moved first to Toronto, I believe, and later died in Kitchener. I know that Betty and Maureen were swimmers and Maureen also played badminton, but I know nothing about Barbara’s athletic interests.

I’ve always liked this photo of the Evans women sitting in front of their house at 2335 West 7th Avenue (at Vine Street) in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver. Grandma Evans moved out in 1977 after a fire, most likely from a cigarette.  She was in the early stages of dementia and Maureen found a nice care home for her until she died in 1985. The house and the old garage are still standing.

I remember hearing that Barbara died in 2005, shortly after my dad. She wanted no service. After Maureen died, we found Barbara’s ashes in a closet. We were able to bury them at Mountain View Cemetery at the same time that we buried her older sister, Betty.

She is now at buried in the same grave as her father Charles (Charlie) and older sister, Elizabeth (Betty).