My good friend “D” was in a serious biking accident in September. He received outstanding care from the moment the Haliburton County Paramedics arrived to help him up, to our local doctors who took care of him and had him flown to St. Michael’s in Toronto.
During his six weeks at St. Mike’s he received excellent care from the many health professionals who worked with him. D is back home now and is doing really well. He is determined to have a full recovery – good thing he has a friend who is a yoga teacher here … hee hee). He is also determined to get back outside to do all the things he loves to do. D’s wife “J” spent six weeks in Toronto staying with a friend and visiting him every day.

I think we all can say how grateful we are for the support of friends, family and community when these challenges arise. While J was in Toronto she noticed bright shining neon hearts in the windows of many, many homes. The hearts were all different colours and really visible. She learned that the hearts come from a project called “Our Glowing Hearts (OGH)” and was started during the pandemic by a company that was out of work (for a while) and so became creative.
They created the neon hearts to be ”loving lights” as a way to show love and support to healthcare heroes, frontline workers, live entertainment workers, and anyone passing by who notices them in the windows. The heart shape is an international symbol of love. The creators re-imagined the heart shape and crafted it into a beautiful, hand-made, glowing neon light that is a work of art. The idea was to spread love. To remind people that love is everywhere. And also to send out hope and gratitude into the community. To remind people that we will get through these challenging times.
My friends, D and J received so much love and support from family, friends, neighbours and the whole community during the time they were away from home. They are incredibly grateful for all the notes, cards, bowls of soup, loaves, yard work and phone calls.

All of the support helped every step of the way. They wanted to say thank you to everyone and decided to purchase a blue “neon” heart and place it in the corner window of the Blue Sky Yoga Studio because it is visible to everyone who passes by. If you drive by the studio, night or day, you will see it shining brightly, saying thank you from their hearts to the entire community. It makes me smile every time I go by it. It reminds me of the power of community, love and the importance of hope.

The founders of OGH have had been donating a portion of their sales and at by the end of September had donated $70,000 to a hospital in Toronto. They have expanded their line and now have smaller hearts for children and part of the proceeds of the funds raised go to War Child Canada. Human creativity and compassion is endless. For more information see www.ourglowinghearts.ca.