It was a year ago today that Bev Pettigrew contacted me after reading an article in the Calgary Herald about a homeless man whose dying wish was to be able to stay in the homeless shelter he’d called home for the past four years of his life. An online search led her to a video interview Mark Horvath of Invisible People did with the man.

And in that moment, a dream was reborn, that two brothers would reconnect and the family circle would be unbroken.

Larry Pettigrew hadn’t seen his 58 year old brother very often since he was 8 years old and their father had kicked him out of the family home. And there he was, on the front page of the city section of the Calgary Herald, and in video at Invisible People.

His wife, Bev, contacted the shelter where I worked and eventually, we connected on the phone. That call lead to the following Friday evening when Larry and his two sons arrived at the shelter to meet Terry for the first time since that fateful day of parting many years before. “I never gave up looking for him,” Larry told me as we rode the elevator to the fourth floor where he would meet his little brother, and embrace him and never let him go until six weeks later when Terry would succumb to the cancer that was eating away at his body.  Being in the military, Larry moved around a lot and as Bev would tell me later, “We always seemed to be one step behind him. We’d heard he was somewhere, try to locate him and he would have moved on.”

And then, his moving on lead him to a homeless shelter and from there back into the arms of the family who loved him.

I received an email from Bev this morning reminding me of that day one year ago when we had first spoken on the phone. Bev writes, “Today marks one year since we were in contact with you about Terry. The 7th of April was the day we read about Terry in the Calgary Herald and saw the interview with Mark Horvath. But  the work of getting through the red tape led us to you. We are so grateful for the love you gave Terry and shared with us. We have had such an amazing year …some good, some not so good. But one thing is for sure… we will be forever changed by the people we met through it all. Thank you and big hugs to you, Louise. May you continue to be an instrument of Peace and Love.”

My heart is touched and warmed by Bev and Larry’s words. My life is forever changed through knowing Terry and meeting them.

We all have the capacity to make a difference. We all have the capacity to move through compassion, caring, love to that place where we celebrate life, in all its many angles, all its multi-faceted hues. And we all have the ability to touch hearts.

May you touch many hearts today with gentle kisses of love and joy. May your heart be touched with tender grace.

Thank you Bev and Larry. Your words embrace my heart and I am broken open in love.

Namaste.