Welcome to The Club v3.3 Summer 2023

Welcome to ...
THE Club
Isn’t it weird being the same age as old people?
Welcome to ...
Summer 2023
CAROLYN R L N MOSIER
BscP.T. MCPA
Registered
ered
ed
Physiotherapist
ist
Forest Physiotherapy
and Rehabilitation
10 Watt Street, et
Forest • 519-786-3336
36
foresttravelservice.com 519-786-2319
We’re here to help you
make travelling easier.
18 King Street West, Forest
ESTABLISHED
IN 1977
SIGNS FROM GOD
These were found on signs outside of churches.
GOD DIDN’T CREATE ANYTHING WITHOUT
A PURPOSE. BUT MOSQUITOES COME CLOSE.
Entertainment since 1917 in the Oldest
Modern Theatre in North America
24 King Street West
FOREST • www.kineto.ca
Your TICKET to First Run Movies,
Concerts, Film Festivals &
Community Events!
Renovated.
Expanded.
Accessible!
RESERVED SEATING & RUSH SEATS
Let the Wind Take Your Words
By Mary Lou Tasko, Lambton Shores Nature Trails • www.lsntblazers.com
Earlier this spring, Lambton Shores
Nature Trails, in partnership with the
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Area,
installed a “wind phone” in the Ausable
River Cut Conservation Area, just off
Highway 21 in the municipality of
Lambton Shores.
If you are unfamiliar with the
concept, a wind phone is a disconnected
telephone placed in a natural setting. It
allows people who are grieving the loss
of a loved one to talk to them—letting the
“wind take their words.” Although the
conversation is one-sided, many people
find it helpful in the grieving process as
it gives them a voice to express their
thoughts and feelings.
The idea originated in Japan in 2010,
when Itaru Sasaki installed a phone
booth, complete with an obsolete phone,
in his garden where he could sit and talk
to his deceased cousin. He found the
continued connection and peace of the
garden comforting and therapeutic. The
idea caught on, and there are now over
60 wind phones worldwide. They take
many different forms, but
they all provide the same
thing—a telephone and a
private space in natural
surroundings.
Grief counsellors agree
that grieving is an ongoing
process that never really
ends and “moving
forward” is really about
learning to live with loss.
Local psychologist Dr.
Fiona Meeks says, “People
process and grieve in
various ways, and there isn’t a one-sizefits-all
approach or journey; however, for
some people, it can be very therapeutic
and healing to identify ways to connect
with a deceased loved one as they
navigate and move forward in their life.
The concept of the wind phone achieves
exactly that: it provides the ability to
maintain a connection with deceased
loved ones in a natural setting.”
LSNT learned about the wind phone
through a CBC report on an installation
in Deer Lake, Newfoundland. Melanie
Young, family physician and deputy
mayor of Deer Lake, chairs a health and
wellness committee that spearheaded
the installation of the wind phone in the
community. Dr. Young says “The phone
itself acts as a symbolic intermediary.
It allows people who are grieving the
opportunity to externalize their grief.
For those of us that often help people
along the grieving process, we know
that externalizing grief can often be very
powerful in healing.” She also noted
that, once the world seems to move
on after a death, people
who are grieving can
feel terribly isolated. For
many, the wind phone
allows them to sustain
a relationship with their
loved one. Source: https://
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/
newfoundland-labrador/
wind-phone-grief-lossdeer-lake-1.6712982
The wind phone
installation in the Ausable
River Cut CA is about 150
Stop & shop in Forest, Ontario!
Check out our downtown - browse our shops, enjoy a meal
at one of our fantastic restaurants or take in a movie
at the historic Kineto Theatre! Make a day of it in Forest!
JOIN US THIS SUMMER FOR:
Car Show July 20 • Kids Day August 25
Keep up to date with event & shopping information
on our website, Facebook & Instagram!
m north from the trailhead, just off the
main trail. LSNT built a kiosk with a metal
roof and a small bench from recycled
materials. Inside the kiosk is a black
touch-button phone and small plaque
inscribed with a poem. Written by Millet
Israeli, a New York City psychotherapist,
the poem eloquently expresses the
purpose of the wind phone.
Though I’ve lost you,
I can hear your voice
in the silent echoes of your absence.
You speak to me through rustling
leaves,
whistling wind and bowing branches.
Though I’ve lost you,
I feel you here
in this shrine of trees
in nature’s sanctuary.
This Wind Phone is for all who grieve.
You are welcome to find solace here.
Please use it to connect with those
you have lost.
To feel the comfort of their memory.
May you hear their voices in the wind.
May you be at peace with your losses.
LSNT has been overwhelmed by the
response! Since its installation in late
March, the short path to the wind phone
kiosk has been well-trodden and LSNT
has received profuse positive feedback.
The LSNT Facebook post alone has
reached almost 10,000 hits. CBC Radio
hosted Ross Atkinson, LSNT’s Chair of
Operations, on Afternoon Drive with
Allison Devereaux, and several articles
have been published by CBC News,
Cottage Life, Blackburn News and the
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Area.
Most important are the personal notes
LSNT has received from individuals who
have already used the wind phone.
Dr. Meek notes that, “The installment
of the wind phone at the Ausable River
Cut Conservation Trail offers a means for
members of our community to maintain
significant connections and relationships,
both psychologically and spiritually, and
it also normalizes the importance of
doing so for some people as part of their
grieving process. I believe that the wind
phone will provide a valuable means of
coping with grief and loss for members
in our community.”
While the wind phone may not be
an effective tool for everyone who is
grieving, its growing popularity is proof
that it is one more strategy for people to
lessen the pain of loss. LSNT invites you
to visit our local wind phone, or perhaps
pass along this information to anyone
you think it may benefit. You may also
wish to check out the website My Wind
Phone (https://www.mywindphone.com)
for a little more history, wind phone
locations, shared stories and a myriad
of resources for folks who are living with
grief.
P A G E 40 “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.” -All About Eve, 1950