My Dad and My Delay in Writing About Him

I have not written in this blog in months.  It seems like the last few entries have been about close family members that have passed on - Auntie Vera, Uncle George and Uncle Willis.  So I now associate my blog with death notices.

Well, I have another one to add.  My DAD.  And unlike the other entries where I expressed my emotions immediately "to pen"...I have waited for over 2 months to talk about my dad.  To include him in this blog is another confirmation that he is gone.

My dad passed away on the sunny day of Tuesday, April 2nd at 2:05pm in his wheelchair, in his room at South Granville Park Lodge.,

Dad was not alone.  He was with his dedicated caregiver, Jimmy Zhao.  Apparently, they had been watching Blackbeard's Ghost on TV.  Dad was clear-minded enough to comment that "that guy is bad".  Then Dad looked up to the corner of the ceiling and said, "What's that?" and then in a twinkling of an eye, .his heart stopped and he left.

During that time, I was at home at the computer working on this and that, even got in a few phone calls.  The last call was with Roddy.  I had even told him that Dad was getting better, "a new baseline".  I had received a call on my cell but didn't answer it.  After I got off the call with Roddy around 3:20pm, I retrieved my message.  It was from cousin Randy.  His message was a message of condolences!  WHAT?!  I called him back.  It was a stressful call as you can imagine.  I then called Michael at work, and I could tell by his voice that he knew and I forced him to tell me.  Then he said, "Your dad passed away."  I screamed and I screamed loud and I screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Then I called Geoff who acted calmly on the phone.  I told him I knew and that I was upset that I had to find out from Randy's message and 90 minutes after Dad died.  What's with that?

When Michael got home, we packed, then picked up the girls at Bethany's.  They asked many times as to why we were leaving for Vancouver but we didn't tell them until we made a food stop at the Costco in Burlington.

For the next two weeks after that, we were busy preparing for Dad's Celebration of Life.  Geoff and I just naturally fell into what our strengths are.  I was to organize the church service, gather the family of workers, and all the little details that go into planning (program, speakers, flowers, songs, white envelopes, obituary, etc).  Geoff was to organize the reception, coordinate details of the funeral home and cemetery.  I said it was like planning a big wedding except we only have a week to put it together.

Jaclyn and Madison were great.  That first weekend, Michael strongly encouraged me to go back home for a couple of days.  I was upset but relented.  And in hindsight, it was a good idea.  The girls, all of us, were able to decompress.  And we had fun laughing at episodes of "I Love Lucy".

This is all I will share for now.  I will also post the obit I wrote and include the YouTube link of Dad's wonderful service.