Freddie P's Blog

December 24, 2008 @ 17:58

Last year at this time we were putting the finishing touches on Christmas at our place in Brampton.

Delyse and I decided to invite my entire side of the family to Brampton because I had a feeling. I had a feeling it would be my dad's last Christmas.

Unfortunately, I was correct.

Dickie struggled through the fall of 2007 and even though he had good days, the bad days were bad. The frustration of being connected to an oxygen tank 24/7 took a lot out of him and despite crankin' up the air flow as the weeks went by, Dickie's condition and spirit seemed to decline.

By the time December rolled around and Christmas plans became a priority there was little question what we going to do.

Dickie and Junie were surrounded by their three kids and their spouses, seven grand kids and their mates, and six great grandchildren. I believe there were 25 of us in total.

It was a great day. The food was great, the company was fabulous and it's something we'll always be able to point to. Dickie's last Christmas was memorable.

There is a flip side of course.

Dickie's last Christmas means this Christmas will be our first without him and it will be tough on us all, but especially my mom.

Junie's been a trooper over the past few months. She has her good days and her bad days as you might expect. The good days involve memories that bring a smile to her face, and the bad days involve memories that make her heart ache with loneliness.

While the rest of us go about our busy lives preoccupied with other things, Junie spends a lot of time wondering where the hell the time went while trying to come to grips with the finality of it all.

It won't be an easy Christmas, but it will be a good one.

I'll pick my mom up today and she'll spend the night with us like she and my Dickie did many times over the years.

Tomorrow morning we'll get up and not having my dad there will be hard, but its one of those things you can't change so you fight off the tears with great memories.

And believe me, there are thousands of those.

Merry Christmas Dickie.