The Good, The Bad and the Sad.

I just returned from a trip to Saint John, New Brunswick. Unfortunately, it was not a vacation, but rather to attend the Celebration of Life of my sister Betty. As a Church pamphlet described her, "It is with sadness and joy, with tears and laughter that we celebrate the life of Betty Graham: sister, mother, aunt, grandmother, bridge partner, friend and volunteer."

Celtic Symbol of LOVE

They tell me that Betty was proud of her Irish ancestry. Today, there are about six groups who claim Celtic identification. Well, two of them were present in great numbers - The Irish Grannans and the Scotch Grahams. These two clans, along with Betty's friends, filled all the pews in the church. The final recession even included the singing of "Oh, Danny Boy".

Many years ago, while living in Europe I dropped the hyphen 'Irish-Canadian' from my self description and realized my true and present identity was that of a proud Canadian. (But "Oh, Danny Boy" went deep and found some stubborn roots that brought tears to my eyes!). I do know why Betty felt so strongly about her heritage, it was drilled into us as children that we were of Irish descent. No doubt my father saw his Irish ancestry and his Catholic faith as inseparable. But as I grew older I began to suspect much of our Irish tradition was probably born in in the United States!

What was good about this gathering was a heightened awareness of how precious and important families can be. I was dealing with the unexpected death of a sibling for whom I had great respect and was truly proud of her many accomplishments.  She taught me the importance of family, and no matter how far apart we lived our lives, that bond was never broken. Perhaps, after all it was, the Celtic blood that kept the family relationship so important and loving.

The bad part of this journey east, was attempting to secure, on short notice, an air line ticket. We ended up using Porter Air which, unfortunately flies into Moncton, N.B. and transportation to Saint John was unavailable late that evening. Finally, Pat and Angie Graham picked us up and returned us after our visit. I own them many thanks. What was really bad is that we were due to fly east from the Toronto Island Airport at eleven a.m. but, because of FOG (of all things!), we did not get off the ground till three in the afternoon.  Thank you  Mr. Porter for the coffee and Almonds while we waited.

My Hero

Of course the sad part was to lose a sister I loved. In many ways she was my hero. The dictionary says a hero 'is a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities.' For those who knew Betty, that definition is perfect. Unfortunately, the dictionary goes on to add, "typically a man". I find that ironic for the first three letters of that four letter word are 'HER".

Good bye Betty. I love you.

And that's Dicks View of the World this Week.

And a GREAT BIG thanks to Jane & Kevin Kane who bed us and fed us. To Mary Beth for making all the arrangements. Love you all.