Plus I know he missed my mom too much. She predeceased him by 5 years.
They weren't rich...by any stretch of the imagination. Dad survived his last years on what the government gave him, no savings at all. They tried to save, but too little, too late and when my mom got sick on a trip out west, his motel stay for a month in Alberta ate up what they saved.
We never went hungry, never were cold, homeless, or no clothes.
Sometimes I wondered if we were going to end up on the street as he had started his own company and his one big client was Eaton's catalogue shopping. When they closed the doors on that, that was a death sentence to him. He hadn't even started the company but did have equipment on order and a lease in place. We lost our house in Scarborough. Moved to North York where I finished the rest of my childhood. And then a shiny object caught my attention and it didn't last long enough to really worry about.
He served in the 2nd world war onboard a cruiser in the south pacific. His mother signed him up for the navy as he was too young at the time (17). He saw a lot of the world in a short period of time and made some friends for life that came back into his life as he and mom got older.
There were a lot of "almosts" in his life. He had a 5 acre farm at on Finch Ave, and I'm not sure if the corner was Pharmacy, Midland or something else. If he had held onto it- would have had millions from the selling of the land. I could go on and on however unfortunately it's 9:33 and I have to get up at 0345 for work. A line from Joni Mitchell's song Big Yellow Taxi strikes me..."that you don't know what you got till it's gone."
I miss him. Sometimes terribly. Once in a while I get this urge to call him.
Rats, can't call him where he is now. Rest in peace Poppy, you and Mom earned it.
Your son.
sometimes, just sometimes, you're a real class act my friend xo
ReplyDelete