Words could never do her justice...

Our eulogy for our extraordinary little sister & best friend. 

Robin. Robinia. Orbin. Bird Food, Auntie Obbie. Rockin' Robin, Robbie our Hero. The most kind, the most thoughtful, the most loved. Robbie was born into our family on June 30, 1987 to our parents Ryk and April Ryce. She became our number 3.  When she was born we lived in a little logging town called Youbou where she spent her days watering flowers and dodging logging trucks in her diaper with her soother trailing not far behind. She was never without at least five bags full of doll accessories, "important papers" and God knows what else... Which ironically she never outgrew (besides the doll clothes). When Robin was two, we made our move over to the infamous oceanside home on Rumble Road. That is where Rockin' Robin fell in love with the ocean and everything that came with it. She especially loved turning over rocks to find crabs and making "crab dust". Along with her love of crabs, Robin had a "love" of cats and all living things. Picture two year old Robbie dragging around our poor kitty Toby- literally- by the neck, soother in mouth, "Hey! Look! I gots Toby!" Poor Toby later died of a heart defect. Wonder why.

Two weeks before Robin's 6th birthday she became an auntie for the first (and certainly not the last) time to her niece Mariah. She did not expect this baby girl to be born and steal her spotlight (and her cherished blankie)  but in true Robin fashion she gracefully accepted all of the responsibilities that came with being an aunt. One after another the nieces and nephews came... Elijah, Jaidah, Lainah, Anabella, Jaiden, Jax and Brody. Robin didn't care if they were blood, chosen, blue or green, she accepted all children as her own nieces and nephews. "Auntie Robbie" became one of the biggest parts of Robin's identity.

By age 10, Robin and our cousin Emily (with Mariah never far behind) had developed quite the obsession with the Spice Girls. Mariah will always remember hiding in the field of the next door neighbours unfinished house singing "Stop!" by the Spice Girls. The fight over who got to be Baby Spice never ended. They would trek into the woods near the house and explore the trails with all of the Rumble Road crew, no matter how scary it got and no matter how many times they were reminded of the Blair Witch Project. Water fights and sledding were among Robin's favorite activities. Robin the entrepreneur started her own business "Kids Inc." around age 11 with her cousin Emily, going door to door with homemade items such as bookmarks and "designer" pens (which by the way ended up costing our parents a small fortune) nevertheless Robin and Emily were quite proud of their success.

Robin was always a social butterfly as a child but never the mean girl. She has always been kind, caring and non-judgmental. Those traits carried on into her teenage and young adult years. She made so many friends and so genuinely loved all of them. In fact, most of them are here in this room and some have become family to us. 

In her teenage years, Robin developed a little bit of a rebellious streak but she never had the heart to be a real bad girl. She always remembered how important family is and how to stay grounded during those turbulent times. Her 16th birthday extravaganza that I'm sure some of you still remember led to her living with Tracy's (my) family for a full year which also included a little grounding, one window escape and a whole lot of really great quality time. Those rebellious years were a trying time but it led Robin into a life of gratitude and wisdom beyond her years.

Robin was always the first one to lend a helping hand in any situation. There is nothing she loved more than being thrown into the midst of cooking dinner, planning a party, or starting the clean up crew with the kids. One of the biggest struggles when she was unwell was her constant need to be the hostess with the mostess. Even near the end when her friends would come over she would be sure to ask us to set out some appy's for them like it was a party every time or make sure they stayed for dinner whether they wanted to or not. She took after her sister Tracy in many ways but on the home front especially. She loved to cook and make a home, something as simple as putting up a new picture or wall saying would produce the biggest Robbie smile. Her most infamous dishes included our mom's curry chicken and Tracy's revamped mushroom cap recipe and her love of Christmas and the holiday season was forcefully passed on to all of her best friends. Luckily, Robin outgrew her cat strangling phase and grew up to be an incredible cat mama. She wholeheartedly loved all of her babies as if she were their real mama. When she lost her beloved cat Chico, her world fell apart but it brightened once again when she found her newest babies Millie, Milo and Mia...and Lincoln, Abby and Poppy who she rescued along with her three and found loving homes. Anyone who knows Robin will know that she was an animal person, and more importantly a rescuer. Any wounded mouse, bird, frog that came to her door step either willingly or via cat, she took in and nursed back to life. If they were not one of the lucky one, the survivors they were given a proper burial every single time.

The special thing about Robbie (besides everything) was her ability to make everyone feel loved and accepted. She never came across judgmental and she always made you feel like you had a place in this world. She was always the first to help a friend in need or even a friend in tragedy and guide anyone who needed it back on the right path.

When she left us, we struggled with whether or not to include her diagnosis and cancer journey on this day.  But quickly we knew that as cancer is a reality, it was her reality and became our heart-breaking reality.  When she received her first diagnosis, my family and I relocated to Duncan to be close to her.  Cancer was a scary, uncontrollable, life changer for our girl and she needed all of us.   She faced each day, each new debilitating challenge with courage.  On her hardest and most painful days, she would rarely complain, and somehow found it in her heart to wake up each day with the spirit of survival.   I personally had the privilege to spend most of my time with her through these past months.  I was with her on that fateful day, the day of her second and final diagnosis and I was fortunate to spend an amazing amount of quality time with Robbie until her final breath.  She might have been the baby sister and we might have been strong for her throughout her life, but it turns out that in reality, the baby sister was indeed the strongest sister.  Cancer took her away from our day to day, it took her body, it took her future here on earth, but it NEVER got her spirit.

Robin. We will see you. We will hear you. We will feel you, in so many ways. We will hear your signs in owls and we will see you in beautiful sunsets following a gloomy day and shooting stars. We feel you every second of the day and there is no doubt in our minds that the beautiful angel you have become is with us every single day. 

My sweet, sweet, beautiful baby sister....we will CELEBRATE the 27 beautiful, cherished years we were blessed to have you here on earth as our little sister. 

We will learn from your wise-beyond-your-years wisdom and life lessons

We will laugh thinking of our endless memories with you

We will smile when I think of your smile

We will always think "What would Robbie do" when in confusion

We will write through our heartache

We will lead by your example

We will choose forgiveness instead of anger

We will cry when it hurts and laugh when it doesn't

I will wrap my arms & love around our Anabella, Jaidie, Lainy, Riah, Lijah, Jaiden, Brody & Jax so much that they feel YOU

We will remember your bravery every day

I will wipe away everyone's tears

I will remind everyone when to smile

We will dance with our babies in the kitchen when a "You" song comes on

We will sing your songs in the car

I will hug Anabella when I miss you

We will love you forever

We will miss you for always

We will see you in everything every day.

We will LIVE.

We will see you in heaven one day my sweet girl.

We are inspired by you. We will help others for you.  We love you. We miss you. We are so, so, so proud of you baby sister. We will move mountains for you. We will make you proud. We applaud you...no, not just applaud you, we give you a standing ovation.

smile when it hurts...



My beautiful sister at the beginning of her battle
 

My sister is sick.  My baby sister (11 years my junior) is not just sick, she is battling the fight of her life against this bastard you may have heard of once or twice named "Cancer".  It sickens me to even type that word, let alone feel the taste of disgust when it's slipping off my tongue.  No matter how many times I wake up each morning with the jolting shock of our reality, it still doesn't seem real or believable and it's NEVER going to be fair or okay.

My sister Robbie is 27 years old. WTF? Seriously?  She is the most extraordinary, beautiful, kind, loyal, thoughtful, loving, selfless, peaceful and "wise beyond her years" woman I have EVER had the privilege of knowing, not to mention the blessing of being able to call someone as graceful as her my sister.  She is the calm in our family. She is the referee in our family battles. She is the comedian at our gatherings. She is the fainting birth coach at our births.  She is the "swoop in and save the day" savior when we are sick.  She is the Super Auntie Extraordinaire to our kids.  She is the sister #3 to our our original #2. She is the reminder of Kindness. She is the glue.

#teamrobbie #teamauntierobbie

When Robbie was born, her crib was in my room.  As an 11 year old who LOVED babies, I thought I hit the jackpot when she came along.  I loved that baby girl like nothing I'd ever loved before.  As she grew and started escaping the confines of her baby jail crib, she would crawl into my bed with me every-single-night until finally when she was 2 years old, my parents took pity on my moody teenage self and our "special situation", and bought me a  new  day bed with an extra pull out bed underneath just for her. For my entire high school career, my little sister slept every night in my room, if not right in my bed with me. (For those who know me well, you now know why I'm such a gigantic cuddler to this very day). For my entire high school career, I picked her up at daycare and babysat her after school.  To say Robbie is just a sister would be the biggest understatement ever.

Christmas Magic

• Have you ever helplessly watched someone you love, suffer every day for 206 days (and counting)?
• Have you ever tried to make reason out of something that is clearly unreasonable?
• Have you ever woken up and relived your WORST nightmare over and over and OVER again....and then pull up your big girl pants, slap on your happy face and go to the office every day?
• Have you ever had to shelter a 6 year old from the sadness, pain and shocking reality of cancer?
• Have you ever had to decorate for Christmas, do the shopping, listen to Christmas music, continue the magic traditions, all while you want to curl into a ball and shut out the world?
• Have you ever had to commute to and from the island every single weekend for months and months on end to be with the people you love the most and support the courageous girl who is brave enough to attempt to kick cancer in the f%ckin face, all the while Cancer is fighting back with the power of a demon?
• Have you ever had to smile when it hurts over and over and over again?

 Welcome to the past 206 days of my life (who's counting)....and I'd do it over and over and over again, just to be with my sister Robbie for ANY spare second of any day. Just to sit beside her while she sleeps or be there when she's awake and wants to chat or look at Forever21 on line and shop from bed. Just to make my daughter's life happy and normal  (whatever that even is anymore) in her 6 year old innocent little world. 



Three...we will always be three.

My sister is my hero. She is courageous and she has faced this battle with grace and dignity. She is deserving of so much MORE than what she has been given  and this will never make sense to me.  She is my inspiration and my blessing. We have an older sister Tracy who cares for Robin every single day (Thank you Tracy for doing what so many sisters couldn't and for being the sister I wish I could be to her every day)...and that makes us a team of three.  Cancer has f%cked with the wrong 3 sisters.

My prayer for my beautiful sister: 
"God...Give her comfort. Give her kindness. Give her love. Give her dignity. Give her courage. Give her strength. Give her clarity. Give her an appetite. Give her relief. Give her a smile. Give her warmth. Give her peace. Please."

My words for Cancer:  F%ck You.

xo
Jess

Blessed