Matthew’s Outlook

Dundas West Subway station
November 2011

In the fall of 2011,  I was glad to attend a community memorial for a friend Matthew Dolmage.  Neighbours, family, friends celebrated the opening of a small garden spot where Matthew liked to watch the trains and christened it, Matthew’s Outlook.

We lost Matthew too soon, when he died unexpectedly in 2004. I remember feeling so strongly at the time that we were just getting to know Matt and we had more to do together. At his funeral I talked about the light that shone out of him, that lit the way to an ever-widening circle with room for everyone – we experience some of that circle today at the Church of the Holy Trinity where his legacy lives on.  It is a tribute to his life.

In this little spot, just behind Dundas West subway, that was once a heap for junk, thanks to some neighbours and some hard work – there’s a new place.  Now it’s a space to stop and enjoy, to watch the train,  to smell the flowers, to chat with a neighbour, to rest a bit – a place to refresh your own outlook.

This little garden is an act of mourners – an act of re-visioning what can be.