Family Day

Today is the Family Day holiday.  The joke around Alberta is that this statutory holiday was created by former premier Getty so that he could visit his son in jail.  His eldest son had been convicted of drug trafficking just prior to creation of this holiday, back in the 1980's.  No one gets too excited about a holiday in the middle of winter, but it does break up the drudgery of the long stretch between Christmas and Easter.

On Saturday I took all four of the girls out to my parents acreage.  My brother from Calgary and his family were visiting for the day, and my daughters were anxious to see their cousins.  I was busy hooking up the old 5th wheel and manoeuvring it out of winter storage and onto the road.  We need to clean all of our camping gear out of it and deliver it to the dealership where we traded it in on our new trailer.  I got the truck partially stuck in the snow a couple of times but with a combination of digging and four-wheel-drive we eventually got the trailer out.  Later that evening everyone went out for dinner for Chinese Food.  Hailey and I bailed out a little early and hopped on the LRT down to the Coliseum.  I had tickets for the Oilers game and we watched them dominate the Colorado Avalanche and eventually win the game 6-4.

The next day was pretty laid back.  I slept in after the late night at the game and eventually got up and did some odds and ends around home.  Mostly we tidied up and got ready for an evening dinner.  My Mom came over for dinner and we had a nice steak barbecue.  Once again I had to bail out a little early to head over to Castledowns arena for my weekly hockey game.

On Monday I again slept in a little, and we again just spent the day around home.  I woke up to find a message on our phone from the security company, advising of an intrusion alarm at the shop.  I drove over to check it out, but fortunately it was a false alarm.  Not even any tracks in the snow and nothing out of place.  In the afternoon I headed over to visit my Dad at his residence.  His condition has deteriorated lately and he has problems with balance and walking.  When I arrived he was not in his room, but I eventually found him, looking very comfortable in a soft upholstered chair in the common area.  I sat down with him and we visited for a while.  He was in pretty good spirits, and recognized me, but the conversation was very mixed up and confused and he could not focus on anything for long.  While I was sitting with Dad one of the other residents was complaining about "a young man that came into my room... with a rifle".  I guess this is just the day to day routine in a ward full of Alzheimer's and dementia patients.  Very sad....

Dad dozed off after a little while and I sat there watching him, and remembering the man that he once was.  Eventually I woke him up and told him that I was going to leave him to his nap, and would come back again soon.  He was OK with that.  His face really lit up with a big smile when I told him I had left a chocolate bar in his room for him.  I guess at this stage it is just all about the little things......