Sandra Schmirler Day

Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the day that Sandra Schmirler left us.  Many of her fans remember the emotional press conference she did a few weeks before her death.  Many of us remember her funeral which was shown live during the Brier.  Many of us now contribute to the Sandra Schmirler Foundation which has raised enormous amounts of money in support of care of premature babies.  She was the only curler to ever have her obituary published in the New York Times. 

It wasn't surprising.  She transformed the game of curling and made it popular and mainstream.  There was just something about Sandra.  Every time she won a game, let alone a Championship, I would cry along with the team.  When her team won the Gold Medal, it was one of the most memorable moments ever.  It helped a little that Team Canada had those amazing outfits that arguably were made just for Sandra, Jan, Joan, and Marcia. 

I always cheer for the underdog but there was something about Sandra.  If she won 10 Scotties in a row, I would still cheer for her.  I would cheer for her for a lifetime. 

I would consider her as one of the top 10 Canadians of all time. Sandra embodied key Canadian values of sportsmanship, fairness, family first, freinds second, everything else third. 

Who can forget that smile?  And, it was just beauty radiating from within. 

But, enough about Sandra, for now.  I'm tearing up. 

Somewhere along the line, the powers that be figured out that Canadian winters were long and felt that we needed a long weekend in February.  So, they wanted to create a statutory holiday.  The third Monday in February.  There were nothing official to celebrate in February and "Civic Holiday" had already been spoken for in August.  So, it was called Heritage Day and in many provinces changed to Family Day.  Heritage Day is pretty lame since we have a huge celebration on Canada Day.  Family Day is alright, but Manitoba had a great idea and named their February holiday as Louis Riel Day to honour the Founder of Manitoba. 

I have some free advice for the Province of Saskatchewan.  Rename Family Day to Sandra Schmirler Day.  No one embodied family values better than Sandra anyway.  Also, her Foundation is literally giving hope and life to families across Canada.. 

Sandra Schmirler Day would honour someone who is so worthy and can never be honoured enough. 

#SandraSchmirlerDay

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