In 2011, Louise lost her father. In January of this year, my extended family back east was dealt a blow as my sister lost her husband to cancer, followed a few months later by his father. Louise lost her mother to cancer in October, then my sister's mother-in-law passed away in late November. Then my sister died unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago. Louise lost both her parents in little more than a year, and two generations of my family back east were gone within ten months. So you can imagine our desire to just get this miserable year over and done with.
We have reached the age when we will start losing friends and family with unfortunate regularity. That our families would suffer so many losses in such a brief window has left us both stunned into disbelief. It's almost like one of those stories that only happens to other people. Except it's us instead.
But they're still here, as long as we remember them. And the sun still comes up each morning. (Except of course, it's winter here on the We(s)t Coast, so it's less like the sun comes up, and more like the rain clouds overhead just get lighter. But I digress.)
Our paddling year pretty much ended when Louise's mother received her diagnosis in September. But we can see that the trend towards more sunny days over time continues. The climate is changing before our eyes.
Okay, enough of that. Bring on 2013!
