TRIBUTE TO MY DAUGHTER MANDY MORRIS

Dear Friends,

Sincere thanks for all of your expressions of sympathy at this challenging time in my life. SPECIAL THANKS ALSO TO ALL OF MY VOLUNTEER STAFF AND OPA OFFICALS WHO RAN THE STRATFORD REGIONAL QUALIFIER IN MY ABSENCE.

Yes, the loss of my loving daughter Mandy at only 23 has caused me great grief and feeling an empty space in my life, having had Mandy’s constant company for 23 years.

In the midst of all this overwhelming heaviness of grief and loss, came a feeling of great gratitude. Let me explain.
I am grateful for having the opportunity to provide Mandy with the chance to pursue her passion of breeding rare breed Italian and French Mastiffs. Since she graduated from high school she has done this and never had to work a day at a job she did not like. I made a lot of sacrifices to make this happen for her with absolutely no regrets. She exceeded all of my expectations and was completely worthy. She achieved success in the show ring with a wall of ribbons and had between 25 and 30 breeding dogs. She shipped dogs all over the world. I even delivered two Mahogany Neapolitan Mastiffs to the Moroccan Embassy in Manhattan.

My best wishes to you all…when enjoying times of relative ease, as well as when facing difficulty and hardship. In truth, even though we all have some resistance to the difficult times, the greatest blessings in life are the challenges, which bring us the opportunity to grow. Despite our differences, we are all on the same path of growth aimed towards ever-greater perfection. However that path may twist and turn, we know it is for our greater good and our growing wisdom of life. That wisdom, that understanding of one’s purpose is the whole point, after all. How we attain it cannot always be in comfort and security, for the deepest secrets and true insights come when we are challenged, pushed to reconsider values and belief systems that no longer serve us. So…through a myriad of experiences we learn and we grow.

This is God’s grace. We come to this world to learn and grow. The expression, “the gift of life” refers not to just the breath of life, but to the succession of circumstances in which we find ourselves, each offering its own powerful opportunity to reveal our character and our understanding.
The suffering now of this unsavoury event will eventually reveal its blessings, lessons and wisdom.
Thanks to all for your comforting, caring words. You are all appreciated immensely .
I wish you all peace for without peace there can be no happiness.

Jim Morris