A Decade of Change

Thanksgiving - October 2013

The past decade has been a decade of significant transition in our family. Mom was entering the final stage of her illness in the autumn of 2012.  After Mom died in April 2013, Dad decided he wanted to come to Canada for a visit in September that same year. It was the last time he stayed at our home. My nephew Simri was his companion and we enjoyed the beautiful fall weather in various locations in south-western Ontario. 

Stratford Festival

One of the highlights of the visit was seeing Fiddler on the Roof at the Festival Theatre in Stratford Ontario. Fiddler on the Roof was a favourite musical of Dad's and it was fortuitous that it was playing that year at the Stratford festival. The performance was magnificent and Dad enjoyed it so much. It was one of the best memories I have of his later years. He talked afterward about how seeing the story retold helped him acknowledge some of the losses he felt after Mom's death. Life brings ongoing change and we cannot hold onto the past and its traditions.

Dad was in the earlier stages of a Parkinson's plus syndrome that would later manifest itself as Lewy Body Dementia. He was already using a walker for his mobility issues but was still cognitively competent. He had another three years or so with a reasonable quality of life and then three years of decline and suffering that I wish he could have avoided. It was a challenging time for my brother and his family who were his primary caregivers in Mexico. It was three years ago today on September 16, 2019, that Dad died. In many ways, it seems much longer than that as the pandemic has created a great divide between then and now. 

Dad and me -October 2013

Autumn is my favourite season for its cool days, brilliant foliage, crisp apples, pumpkins, fall markets, and clear skies. There is beauty in the transition between summer and winter. 

The loss of our parents has placed my brothers and me as the oldest generation in our immediate family. Our children are moving out of young adulthood and this week another baby boy was added to the family, with another on the way in a few months.

It was nice to look through photos of this visit as I remembered the anniversary of Dad's death today. He so enjoyed his time with his sisters and the rest of the family in Canada. We won't have the same crowd around the Thanksgiving table again but there is time to make new memories and strengthen relationships with younger generations.