A bit of a rough weekend. Early last week, I received word that a funeral service for my Uncle Richard would be held in Red Deer, Alberta last Friday (yesterday). Although they would be arranging for a Zoom viewing of the ceremony for east coast family members who couldn’t attend, my wife and I decided that we would travel out for the night to pay our respects and say our goodbyes. The trip involved driving to Kindersley and dropping off the boys. We were able to spend the night and get an early start from Kindersley to Red Deer. It was a good arrangement and the stop in Kindersley broke the trip in two, making for a less than exhausting drive.
When my grandfather passed away in 2014, I made a point of telling the entire family that the last act of a loved one is to bring the entire family together. Although a tragic and morbid way to do it, it almost always seems to bring distant family members together. This was no exception, with my aunt and cousins in attendance. Given that they’re the family members the farthest west in Canada, I haven’t had as much contact with them as I have with many others on my mother’s side. It was a sobering reminder to take the opportunities to spend time with family while you can. Life brings us all here, eventually.
Another benefit is my wife and I having had the opportunity to spend the evening alone together. This hasn’t happened often since becoming parents, as I’m sure many of you reading this can relate. This morning, we’ll be having some breakfast before hitting the road and stopping in to my wife’s parents’ home for the night. We’ll get to have dinner and spend the night before making our way back to Regina. Another unexpected benefit of losing a family member. I’m well over 700 posts consecutively posted without missing a day. The past few days have made me realize once again that life doesn’t care about one’s plan and that I haven’t had as much time to research and contemplate what to write about. Que sera… ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 