Last evening we went to visit Rick’s mom, Bea, in Stroud at the retirement home where she resides. She was very happy to see her baby boy (and his wife) who surprised her by coming all the way from BC and it was really good to see her. Today started early with Rick joining his brother Laird and Graham for breakfast at 8:00 o’clock in New Lowell. While they were doing that, I was getting caught up on email and Gayle was getting organized for their weekend away in their Moho. Taunja, Faith and Bryden dropped by for a quick visit with “Uncle Rickey” and me but once the “boys” returned, Rick and I had a busy day ahead of us.

Our first priority was to drop Karley’s hair scissors off at the place she has always had them sharpened at in Horseshoe Valley on our way to meet Helen and Rosanne at Casino Rama for lunch. I had contacted Helen from Mission earlier and she had driven over from Lindsay just to see us. Needless to say between her and Rosanne there were some tears shed but we had a great time catching up on each other’s news. From there we went into the MTO office to renew our car license plates and then we headed out to my sister’s house in Coldwater. When I was back here in January to say my goodbyes to Mom, we discussed what she wanted done with hers and Dad’s ashes. It was decided that they should be scattered together in the North River from Mark’s (my nephew) yard (he has a beautiful homestead on the river). Today, with family members gathered, Christine and I said our goodbyes to our parents and fulfilled their final wishes; it was a joyous event, no tears, just laughter and a sense of peace!

Afterwards, Rosanne and her husband Rob joined Chris, Fred, Rick and me for dinner in Severn Falls, a few miles away. We had a really nice time enjoying some great company and good food while overlooking the Severn River from the waterfront restaurant. The night ran out before we were ready and we exchanged plenty of hugs a kisses before heading back to Barrie (via Horseshoe Valley to pick up the scissors) for our final night in Ontario. We had a VERY full day and we are beat!