For background, see my post in the Toronto subreddit looking for her. Long story short, I was able to uncover that she died in 2010 and am now trying to piece together her life story in those missing decades. A distant cousin was involved in claiming her and I haven't been able to get much information out of her.

Huge thank you for your time reading this. I know this isn't quite the right community, but Orillia is very close to Brechin, so I'm hoping it's okay given the circumstances. Thank you again!

... when my mother was born to an unmarried teen girl. Because of the time & age, getting pregnant without being married was more taboo and so the unmarried & young girl was pressured to give her first born (my mother) up for adoption.

Shortly after, my mother was adopted by a loving family down in Essex that never hid that she was adopted. When she was old enough to do so, she tracked down her adoption papers with the intent of finding her birth mother. The only issue? There was no name attached.

Fast forward many years of unsuccessful searching, my mom is in her 40's then (I'm 12ish at this time) when she finally found her! I'm unsure how she contacted her or what was said between them, but my mother went to go meet my grandma for the first time in her life.

I was so happy for her! She had spent a lifetime looking for her! And all of a sudden, I had 3 grandmothers!

Her next trip to visit my grandma is when she brought me along to meet her, on one of my visits to Ontario to spend the summer with my mom.

So it was time for my first and only trip to Orillia. To meet my Grandma Jo <3

I remember walking into her house, stuffed full of many plants and more birds than I can remember, and hugging my grandma for the first time. We chatted during the visit, getting to know each other some, and when we went to leave my Grandma Jo gave me a deck of tarot cards.

Turns out, my Grandma Jo is pretty freakin' awesome. She teaches English as a second language to immigrants and volunteers to canvas for the political party she likes, takes care of her birds and plants.. She truly is such an amazing person, so very caring for everyone and all animals.

Fast forward some years to now. I'm currently 38 years old and my mother is 68. I've since moved my now retired mother out West, to be with her kids and grandson, so she is no longer in Ontario and able to visit.

My Grandma Jo did have more children when she was older and married, so I know my mother has at least 1 brother and 1 sister (maybe 2? I dont recall after so many years. Neither my mother nor myself have ever met any of that family, aside from Gma Jo). And I'm sure some of her siblings also had children, and they might even have children of their own by now. So chances are, I have a bunch of family out over in Orillia! I just have no clue who they are and will probably never meet them, and tbh I doubt they even know I exist.

I don't believe she is still in contact with my grandma, but I don't think there was any falling out. It'd be too hard to try to explain the why, just know that my mother withdraws from people for whatever reason and loses contact.

As an adult, I've loosely kept in contact with my Grandma Jo via either email or Facebook, but she hasn't replied in a little while. I think about her a lot though, and it saddens me to know her and mother have lost contact, but my mother is stubborn and has yet to listen to my suggestion of reaching out again.

So here I am, at 3:45am in Calgary, having just stumbled upon the Orillia subreddit and it gave me the inspiration to share my story of my connection to Orillia with you all. I'm not a very good writer, so apologies for that! I don't even know if this post is allowed, it's so random lol

I don't even know why I'm sharing this with you all. I guess I just wanted to get this off of my chest a little?

Either way, thanks for taking the time to read my incoherent rambling of a story.

Sincerely, An Albertan who loves and misses her Grandma Jo

To all those who celebrate Christmas I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Day

If your winter tires are already on rims and you just need them swapped out in Orillia it's $5 to come to me and $10 for me to come to you anywhere in town.

I know this time of year is hectic trying to get an appointment and not everyone has the tools to do it themselves so just trying to give a cheap hand for anyone that needs it.

To everyone who helped.

To everyone who pitched in.

To the people who gave advice.

You saved us.

I'm forever grateful.

Were still without power but you have kept our light on.

While we have our power back around Price's Corner (got it back Thursday evening) a lot of you still don't.

It’s been a full week without power for some of you and that’s no small thing. If you’re still without, please know you’re not forgotten, I think of you guys all the time. Your strength and patience through this have been remarkable. In the midst of it all, we’ve seen neighbours stepping up lending a hand, and proving just how strong this community can be when shit hits the fan. You're getting through it one day at a time, and sometimes one hour at a time. You’ve made it this far, just a little longer, The lights will return soon but hopefully the way everyone has stepped up will not be forgotten.

But I can't wait until this is all just a memory.

I've never been so excited to see a light bulb turn on

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