Photo by Trish’s dear friend, Tiff

If you feel you can help Trish’s husband, Adrian, out with the considerable medical bills, donations can be made by paypal or mailed to the Greyhound Angel Network post office box. Just put “From the Heart: Tricia Olson-Giles Memorial Fund” in the comments section or with your check.
Thank you!!!

Paypal:
Click Trish’s Orchid to Donate

Mailing address:
Greyhound Angel Network
PO Box 8012
Owensboro KY 42302

Trish was an amazing young woman. She lived through some painful experiences, and had a lot of pain in her daily life, but that’s not what defined her. If I had to choose one quality to describe her, it would be generosity. Or maybe loving. Loving generosity, then!

My own experience with Trish goes back before I made the connection that we were destined to be close friends. I can’t even remember which thing comes first! I had received a commission to do a portrait, but had a long waiting list, and lots of my clients spend the waiting time sending me new pictures of their pets! I had lots of pictures of Bebe and Peatie gracing my computer.

Then, a group of people collected to get a huge creative project together which became the Create for a Cure Virtual Quilt project and auction. Trish labored mightily and well to coordinate all the winners and their winnings. It was a huge job. I’m probably forgetting half of it! But, I still didn’t know Trish that well.

Somehow, we got connected. I finally saw that the hardworking Trish of the Quilt project was also the long patient customer waiting her turn on my list! We had a laugh over that. The first of many! We started playing online Scrabble, which I won handily. It wasn’t fair. I was cheating using an online word-finder! When I told her my prank, she just thought it was hilarious, and gave me a hard time about it ever afterwards.

After that, our contact was pretty steady, almost every day, between emails, messaging and finally phone calls. We became good friends, sharing her pain over the loss of her beloved greyhound, Peatie, her joy in her new found love Sammy, her wedding plans, her marriage to the incomparable Adrian, Flippy’s addition to her family, her art projects, her ferrets, turtles, flowers, photography …. Her humor and steadfastness helped me to hang onto perspective about my difficult puppy, Pogo (still in the pack, as of this writing! ), and I watched her cheer up many who were really having black hard times.

All this through her own pain, her own difficulties. She was a shining star even before her passing.

Trish, you are missed.

Mary (Pippin on GreyTalk) wrote this poem, which she graciously said I could share. Get your tissues handy; you’ve been warned!

Flying without wings
mvy 3/1/06 - revised for Trish 4/21/08

Some folks are bound to earth
With chains of tempered steel.
Others with but silken threads
They seem to break at will.

Some folks fly high because they know
The art of air machines,
And some, like Trish, can know the thrill
Of flying without wings.

She’s soaring now, above the clouds
That block my earthbound view.
I celebrate her flight
With a heart that’s torn in two.

She flies alone: no Adrian,
No pets – it’s solo time.
We’re left behind, and yet our friend
Is with us for all time.

We watch her acrobatic flight
With hearts that are tear-dimmed.
She soars, she wheels, she dips and dives,
Then skyward soars again.

We sense her joy at chains released,
Delighting in her flight.
And even though our sky is dark,
She’s flying into Light.

One last approach over her old home,
One last message to send.
A feather-kiss to Adrian,
Then to the rainbow she ascends.

She’ll wait for him to join her there,
For their hearts are so entwined
That even in her new home,
He’ll be always on her mind.

Love doesn’t stop for death or grief,
Or other earthly things.
And when the time is right,
They’ll both be flying without wings.

In loving memory of Tricia Olson-Giles, left us on April 19th, 2008.
Please keep Adrian in your thoughts as he moves into this new stage of his life.

Feel free to share your stories and thoughts about Trish with the rest of us using the comments fields below.

Did I leave anything out?