Janet Castillo passed away peacefully on March 29, 2010.  She is a very special person.  Despite having a long battle with chronic kidney failure, she was able to overcome that obstacle and turn it into a positive experience.  She has been the Sun Run team leader for the Renal Runners for several years encouraging fellow patients to have a healthier active lifestyle.  Last Spring she recently joined the P2W Dragon Boat team where she excelled in paddling and encouraging even more people to join.  She never failed to smile even when she was given the heart breaking news that her life here on earth would be coming to an end.   She has made an amazing amount of friends in her short life and touched countless more people with her spirit.
My mother is the person I strive to be.  She is always there for me, giving me directions on how to get somewhere or making some food for me to eat.  I have always been able to talk to her about anything.  She is my best friend.  I recently opened a cook book she had bought where I found vegetarian recipes she had bookmarked with sticky notes which she had planned to cook for me.  I never realized just how much she thought about me and about everyone.  When I close my eyes I remember her sitting in the kitchen with Toby (our doggie who has become more like child) by her feet and her brushing his teeth as he would lick the toothpaste off the brush and she would coax him to open his mouth for “mommy”.  Dad was her saviour.  In her last days I could see how much his presence comforted her and she felt safe in his arms.  For the longest time it was just Mom, Dad and me in our little world.  When I was in preschool I had the habit of hiding in the department store from my mom while she was shopping and to teach me a lesson she hid from me and I was so scared I never did it again.  It feels like that now, that she is hiding from me ready to say “boo” and laugh with me again.  I still can’t believe she’s not here with me like she was before, but I know she has a new role watching over all those people she has left behind in this world.  She told me a long time ago that she would wait for us so I believe she will keep her promise.

=In Loving Memory=
Thanks for all you've done
I’ve missed you for so long
I can't believe you're gone
You still live in me
I feel you in the wind
You guide me constantly
I've never knew what it was to be alone, no
'Cause you were always there for me
You were always home waiting
and now I come home and I miss your face so
Smiling down on me
I close my eyes to see
and I know, you're a part of me
and it's your song that sets me free
I sing it while i feel i can't hold on
I sing tonight cause it comforts me
I carry the things that remind me of you
in loving memory of
the one that was so true
you were as kind as you could be
and even though you're gone
you still mean the world to me
I've never knew what it was to be alone, no
'cause you were always there for me
You were always home waiting
but now i come home and it's not the same, no
It feels empty and alone
I can't believe you're gone
and I know, you're a part of me
and it's your song that sets me free
I sing it while I feel I can't hold on
I sing tonight cause it comforts me
I'm glad he set you free from sorrow
I'll still love you more tomorrow
and you will be here with me still
All you did you did with feeling
and you always found the meaning
and you always will
and you always will
and you always will
and I know, you're a part of me
and it's your song that sets me free
I sing it while I feel I can't hold on
I sing tonight cause it comforts me
=Alter Bridge=
There are so many dear people she has left behind in this world that she will always remember. Her husband Manny, who will always cherish her in his own quiet way, her daughter Valerie, who will try her best to live out the rest of her life the way her mother wants, Toby her baby, who will continue to guard her slippers until she comes back to claim them, her mother Resy, her dear Inay “Hi Inay”, her adopted daughter Jenny, Ate Emy, brothers Willie, Jeff and Bhoy, sisters Medy, Hermie and Lalaine (her hospital roommate), Tita Myrna, Tito Rene,  Dirk, Ate Myrna, Allison, Kuya Rene, Ate Nene, Kuya Rollie, Kirsten, Stephanie and Cheryl, her many friends Blenn, Lorna, Nena, Ate Fely, Oscar, John,  Normie, Dan, Joan, Lina, Millette, Juliet,  Ate Chuchi those at Cambie, Fely, Liz, Barb, Tom, Gen, Bill, Louisa, Amy, Audrey, Linus, Abner, Alma, Orlynn, Rainel, Tina , KG, Esther, Sheila and many more.  We miss Janet very much; the world feels emptier without her.