Every Sunday I cold plunge. But this Sunday is different. I will be out there with bunny ears on.
Cold plunging has become part of how I manage my body now. Since the surgery two years ago, things have shifted. I lost a couple of toes and it changed more than I expected. The foot has 26 bones. When you take some away or move things around, it is like Jenga. Everything adjusts. Some days my legs ache. Some days my mood drops hard.
The hardest part was not my foot. It was what the drugs did to my brain. They cracked something open. Now the complex PTSD can take over, and I am dealing with the brutal body memories of child sexual violence in a way I never had to before.
If I had known that would happen, I might have chosen differently. I might have kept my twisted toes and kept hobbling along.
But there is another truth sitting beside that one. I am also grateful. Something broke open, and now I am finding ways to heal that are simple and real. Cold plunging is one of them.
If I lived by the lake, I would be in it every morning. When I step into that water for two minutes, my legs go quiet. For 24-hours I get relief. And I get something even bigger: a full day without tears from the memories that usually find me in my sleep.
So, this Sunday I will be in the water, bunny ears and all. Not as a joke. As a small act of survival.
My mother walked out on us, five kids, when I was 10 years old. It was Easter. This is how I take that day back now. On my terms. In cold water, fully here, still standing.
Flash forward to Easter Sunday.
What a beautiful day.
When my day starts with a cold plunge, I already know I am stepping into something good. But today went further than that. It turned into something full of life.
After the water, we walked the streets of Toronto handing out candy, sharing smiles, connecting with strangers for a moment that felt simple and real. There is something powerful about showing up like that—open, present, human.
Easter Bunny energy at Sankofa Square. Not Dundas anymore.
“Sankofa” is a word from Ghana. It means go back, learn, and move forward with clarity and heart. A better name for a better direction.
Because Henry Dundas stood in British Parliament and fought to delay ending the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. That history isn’t abstract.
It takes courage to change. It takes a heart to shift with love. Where love is present, there is no room for evil.
Thank you for making a day of love and fun, Nathalie Cousineau (aka Easter Bunny) and friends, for creating a day filled with love and joy. We moved through moments of reflection on the past, and in the present we embraced community, looking ahead to the future with clarity and open hearts. Life does not get any better than that.
Nathalie and I met at The Gatehouse. We both arrived as survivors of child sexual violence. Today, we stand as Beloved Warriors, fighting to end child sexual violence.
Easter is not complete without a visit to Allan Gardens Conservatory, a free way to breathe in spring, to stand in colour, to be surrounded by it. It’s a stunning pocket of Toronto. And walking through it, I realized… I need more colour in my own life. Starting with what I wear.
Happy Easter. Reclaimed. Beautiful. Feeling Blessed.