What Is Laurie's Place?
Hi, I'm Laurie. I'm a wife and a mother of four totally kick-ass kids, and so much more.
For the past four years I've been fighting cancer, so even though I don't want this blog to be about that, my first few posts tell my story through it. In August of 2020 I was one of four Canadians given access from Health Canada to use magic mushrooms legally, as part of therapy, to help me with the end-of-life anxiety I was experiencing. That sentence makes it sound so neat and tidy, but it has been the craziest time of my life.
I had no idea that it was as big of a deal as it turned out to be. Suddenly I had reporters calling for interviews and telling my story, and I've become an advocate for psilocybin therapy in Canada.
That was more than two years ago though, and I'm tired of talking about it. What I really want to talk about is what's happening now. I want to write about how I'm moving on, embracing life again in the midst of cancer. I hope this blog helps you to see that even when the worst thing imaginable happens you can find beauty, love, peace, joy and belonging. Healing.
Our friends have been with us in this journey, every step of the way. Over the last four years we have had a weekly dinner and tv night with what has become our closest group of friends, our family who we wouldn't have made it through the last four years without. I would love Laurie's Place to have the same feel as those times I've spent with close friends, just sitting and talking and laughing around the table. A safe space to talk and share both joy and pain, with friends here for support and encouragement, and sometimes just to hold our collective breath and hope that something great is just around the corner. That picture of sitting and laughing with friends around a table is my idea of heaven.
So if you're reading this, first of all, I'm glad you're here, and second, I would love to hear from you. Let's start a conversation and see what we can learn from each other.