Lubov was a free spirit and that is how she lived her life, while maintaining the responsibility of raising a happy and functional family, despite of fully never having one herself. Formerly trained as a philologist of Roman-Germanic languages, English teacher, and ballet dancer, by the University of Kiev, she was successfully living her dreams on her own terms; which was to be, and do her best in every situation!

My mom was ready to die for her family and friends and essentially did so by overcoming the seemingly impossible; immigrating to Canada on her own with two adolescent children, having a third child, and creating the conditions for our family to develop and become successful and responsible.

Luba did things her way and had a tough time listening to others, yet kept a standard of excellence in all of her undertakings. She was an excellent mother and taught by example, one of the things that matters most in life, and that is, just like her name signifies, love.
Like the ancient Greeks express in their mythologies: nomen est omen 'your name is your destiny'. My mom has fulfilled hers. Like the German philosopher Nietzsche once said 'to live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering'.
Like all of us, my mom had a difficult life with a lot of suffering, yet by her attitude and actions, she found meaning and value that transmuted as benefits and happiness for herself, our family, and friends.

Lubov was fond of aesthetic beauty and movement of form. She loved art, nature, culture, music and children. Some of her favourite pass times included: reading, motorcycling, and taking vacations. My mom revered the Canadian legal system which gave herself and our family the ability to thrive and live our dreams. Like the Greek philosopher Socrates once said 'death may be the greatest of all human blessings'. I can now see the meaning of this phrase as I come to terms with the powerful and transformative feelings of grief and loss. Like the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said 'if you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold onto. If you are not afraid to die, there is nothing you cannot achieve'.

The loss of family, friends, and self, is common to us all as human beings and these powerful experiences can serve as catalysts for us to awaken to our true nature, thus finding out what our most genuine interests are and following and growing in those interests to our full ability. I believe that the best we can do to honour Luba's life is to take her best qualities, features, and examples and incorporate them into our lives.

I implore everyone here to utilize the tools available to us to educate ourselves on the nature of death, and come to terms with the inevitability of one day, our own. Some of the greatest teachers and guides are experiences such as this one, so I would ask everyone here to kindly participate with me in silence to honour this beautiful moment of awakening to the real, and being inspired by my best friend and mom to live fully and achieve our dreams!