A LETTER OF REMEMBRANCE

On November 11, we pause. We remember. And we say thank you.

By Ana Bastas
Founder & Team Lead, Ana Bastas Real Estate Team

Dear Friends, Clients, Neighbours and Community,

Every year, as November 11 approaches, we see the poppies begin to appear on coats and jackets across our communities.

And every year, they ask us to do something very simple, but incredibly important:

Remember.

Remembrance Day is not a day I believe should pass like any other day on the calendar.

At 11:00 a.m., for two minutes, we are asked to stop.

To put aside the appointments, the emails, the errands and everything else that fills our days.

And to remember the men and women who served Canada, those who continue to serve, and especially those who never came home.

For most of us, the freedoms we experience every day are simply part of life.

We wake up in our homes.

We take our children to school.

We go to work.

We gather with the people we love.

We build businesses, pursue opportunities, practise our beliefs, express our opinions and make plans for our futures.

These ordinary moments can feel so routine that it's easy to forget how extraordinary it is to live with those freedoms.

They came at a cost.

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To Those Who Served

There are no words that can adequately repay sacrifice.

There is no "thank you" large enough for someone who left their family and home to serve their country.

There is no way to truly understand what it meant for families to watch a son, daughter, husband, wife, father, mother, brother or sister leave without knowing whether they would return.

And there is no way to give back the years and lives that were lost.

What we can do is remember.

We can learn their stories.

We can wear a poppy.

We can attend a ceremony.

We can observe those two minutes of silence.

And we can teach the next generation why we do it.

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As a Mother, That Part Matters Deeply to Me

As a mother, Remembrance Day makes me think differently about sacrifice.

I think about the parents who watched their children leave.

I think about the children whose parents went away to serve.

I think about families receiving news that would forever divide their lives into a before and an after.

And then I think about our children today.

They may see the poppies.

They may participate in a school assembly.

They may hear The Last Post or stand silently at 11:00 a.m.

But I believe it's our responsibility to make sure they understand why.

Remembrance cannot belong only to the generations who lived through war.

It has to be passed down.

Our children should understand that the life they experience today was shaped, in part, by people they will never meet.

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Home Has a Different Meaning on Remembrance Day

I spend my professional life talking about homes.

Usually, we're talking about bedrooms and neighbourhoods, kitchens and backyards, buying and selling and the next chapter of someone's life.

But on Remembrance Day, the word home carries a very different meaning.

For generations of Canadian service members, home was the place they left behind.

It was the photograph they carried.

The letter they reread.

The family waiting for them.

The place they hoped to see again.

For some, that day never came.

That is something worth remembering.

Because a home is more than the structure around us.

It's the people inside it.

It's safety.

It's family.

It's belonging.

And having the freedom to build a life and a home in peace is something we should never take for granted.

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To Our Veterans and Members of the Canadian Armed Forces

To Canada's veterans, thank you.

To those currently serving in the Canadian Armed Forces, thank you.

To military families who have carried sacrifices of their own, thank you.

And to those who gave their lives in service to our country:

We remember you.

Not simply as names.

Not simply as numbers.

Not simply as photographs from another generation.

But as people.

People with families.

People with dreams.

People with homes they loved and futures they hoped to return to.

---

On November 11

Wherever you are at 11:00 a.m., I hope you'll join me in stopping for those two minutes.

Put down the phone.

Pause the conversation.

Let the world become quiet for a moment.

And remember.

Remember those who served.

Remember those who sacrificed.

Remember those who returned carrying experiences most of us will never fully understand.

Remember those who did not return.

And teach our children to remember them too.

Because remembrance is more than looking backward.

It is how we carry their sacrifice forward.

Lest we forget.

With gratitude and respect,

Ana Bastas
Founder & Team Lead
Ana Bastas Real Estate
Real Broker Ontario Ltd., Brokerage