Seems it is long past time for me to be writing a post here. I’m getting almost more memorial posts for our Brave Canadians than posts from me on other stuff.

It’s been a bit of a tough month since dad died. There isn’t just the, at times, almost exhausting impact of the loss of dad, there is the daunting task of disassembling the life of not just him but what was left of our mother’s as well. Dad was a pack rat, I’m sure he threw some stuff away, I’m just not sure what. We have a lot of stuff to deal with, a lot of which we’ll end up sending to the garbage.

Death brings out some odd dynamics in people. For four of us siblings, dad’s death seems to have drawn us closer together. We have a job to get finished and our oldest brother as executor of the estate has the task of getting the job done. Amongst the four of us, we’ve been able to talk back and forth and sort out relatively easily who wants what and who could use what.

As for the fifth child, my next eldest brother, he seems to be proving to be very much a loose cannon. He’s now made it abundantly clear that now dad is gone he can let loose an apparently long nurtured hatred towards me. So what is the hate over? Who knows, I sure don’t and neither do my other siblings. Not that his behaviour towards my other sisters is all that amiable, that would truly go against his nature.

I have to admit to some curiousity over just what the burr in his backside is but I can’t say that the absence of a bullying misogynist from my life is going to make even a moment’s difference. We don’t live near each other, our interests are not similar and our circle of friends most definitely doesn’t overlap - so his absence will mean very little.

On the other side of the coin, I’ve had more contact and communication with both my oldest brother and next younger sister than I’ve had in many years. I hope that continues. That is not meant to leave out my youngest sister. Her and I have always been very close, you might say that you couldn’t slip a piece of paper between us.