The Similkameen News Leader
Editorial
February 10, 2009
THE FAMILY REUNION
It was supposed to be a surprise.
My father-in-law was going to turn 79 in a matter of days and family members were going to gather together to celebrate with him in Kelowna. Then my wife received a call that he had had a heart attack.
She went to Kelowna days before she had planned. At one point, doctors called all family to Kelowna. It was looking pretty grim. He was a day short of 79 and all his children were nearby spending special moments with him as the hours slowly passed.
Then magically, the day after his birthday doctors announced he was likely to ‘pull out of it’ and were scheduling tests and making plans for the weeks ahead, including placement for re-hab. Brenda chose to come home for a day once she determined all would be fine.
I don’t think she was more than 20-minutes out of Kelowna when I got the call that my father-in-law had passed away. I spoke to my wife at least twice after that call not letting on I had bad news opting to wait until I saw her to share the information.
It was a long afternoon for me. Then when she arrived in the office (I was at work), she and I greeted each other and she shared with me the good news from the doctors and how her father was probably going to be okay.
That was when I told her the truth. I thought I had experienced some tough situations before. I can’t think of a single instance that would match telling my wife her father died just minutes after she left her family behind.
It had a profound affect on me for the rest of the week. It’s not as if it unlocked any special understanding for me or put things into some sort of perspective.
What it did was made me realize I hope I never have to do that again. When my father died 18 years ago it was different. My younger brother told me what doctors had told him. I never had to be the one with The News.
Which is sort of funny when you think about it.
All I basically do for a living is tell everyone else the news about what’s going on around them. It’s normally ‘informational’news with the occasional instance of bad things happening to good people or just people paying for back calls of
judgment.
It’s never announcing The News. But considering what I do for a living, I guess it was best that she heard it from me and not someone else.
The strange thing is, I knew my father-in-law for just a few years, and somehow he managed to give me something to always remember him by.
Although I’d prefer to remember how he repeatedly beat me senseless around a pool table.
