Catching Up

Well, that was a whirlwind of a few days! We arrived at my brother’s house in Edmonton at about 5:00 and visited with some neighbours and a couple of relatives who popped in. The neighbours talked about how they should have caught on that something was wrong when he turned down a couple of dinner invitations in the week before he died. My brother knew a good thing when he saw it and NEVER said no to a free home cooked meal! He also excused himself from the traditional Saturday morning breakfast at the local casino with friends and neighbours. That was also very out of character for him but when questioned, he told people he was just a little “out of sorts” and would be fine.

As I said, it was very strange not having him come barging around the corner giving me a hard time about plugging into his electric.

I picked up my sister and her daughter from Toronto area on Thursday. It was nice seeing her again, it had been a while. She was married and moved east soon after I got around to being born so we have always had a long distance relationship except for the one time we took an RV trip to California together for a couple of weeks.

Things started getting hectic soon after she arrived. We went out to the family cemetery Saturday morning. We all went in the motorhome so we would have a chance to escape for a few minutes if we wanted and it also provided a nice rest room for the women. It was a double funeral as a member of the other family that shares the cemetery passed away over the winter as well. The “younger” family members had started working early in the day and the grass was mowed, trees were limbed and stones were scrubbed by the time we got there and got settled. The holes were dug and the local Preacher arrived to do his thing at 1:00. His daughter Robin tossed a small bottle of single malt into the grave before his youngest son Darcy placed the urn in the hole. Two of my brothers’ granddaughters did an eulogy for him and made a fantastic job of it! Thanks Crystal and Karen, we are all very proud of you! Even your grandpa would not have had any complaints!

After the service we all headed over to a cousin’s nearby farm for a huge potluck dinner and a get-together over a couple of cold beer. We left there after dinner and got back to the house around 8:00, totally drained, emotionally and physically!

The next couple of days we visited with close relatives and friends of Gordon’s. Norma and I took Gloria and Dianne over to the see the tiny house that our dad built in the late Thirties and that we lived in until moving to Vancouver in 1955 when I was ten. The house is still standing and looks like it might be a rental. The painstaking construction is still evident. The house is only 24’ X 25’ = 600 square feet on the main floor with a full basement and small attic. The garage/workshop out back is larger than the house. It all seemed bigger when I lived there.

I dropped Gloria and Dianne off at the airport at around noon today. It was hard to let go of her. She is 82 but looks and certainly acts much younger.

We are parked in a Wal Mart in Hinton, Alberta and will make our way through the Rockies tomorrow on our way home. It has been a tough week!