Hello, faithful readers!
For those of you who are wondering why I wasn’t around all weekend, it was because there was a death in my family and I had to attend a funeral on the mainland.
My uncle Gordon passed away at 78, so I travelled down to Surrey to spend some quality time with my relatives.
It was a pretty amazing trip, with many great memories that I will treasure for a lifetime.
I remembered my uncle with my mom’s side of the family and we all celebrated the honourable and strong man that Gordon was, I drove around the city for the first time in four years, and I even made a quick trip out to Chilliwack to see my most favourite person on the planet (Hi, Kat).
To quote Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”.
A lot of time it feels like I’m so isolated here on the northern tip of the island, but I find the energy and flow from being in the city really energizes me and puts me in a much better place when I get back to my quiet hometown.
Also, it’s always an entertaining experience whenever my mother’s side of the family gets together, and this time was no different.
My cousin Paul is still hilarious and a great public speaker, my cousin Matt is still Matt (nice kickflip buddy), my cousin Katie still loves hanging out with my brother and driving us around, and I somehow lost to my cousin Kara five times at pool (I sunk the eight ball four times, it was definitely a bitter moment).
Oh yeah, my cousins John and Bob made appearances, which is always a funny moment. John loves the Boston Bruins, which causes a lot of ire in the family tree whenever we talk about the sport of hockey, and Bob currently has the coolest mustache/goatee combo going on.
I’m not sure what else to write about the trip?
There was an amazing slideshow of my uncle Gordon’s life, and I learned a lot more about who he was as a person. Gordon was always a very quiet guy, at least around me, so I never knew a lot about the time he spent in the Navy and how he became a Baptist minister later on in life. The photo slideshow of him and our family members spanned from 1940 all the way to present day, and it was surreal to see so much family history all at once.
I know funerals are supposed to be sad events, but it really was a great day remembering a great man on a beautiful sunny afternoon in the city.
Anyways, enough about my family.
I guess the meaning behind this editorial is just to tell everyone to always enjoy whatever time they are able to get with their family, because it doesn’t last forever. No one is promised tomorrow, so don’t take your family for granted.
Tyson Whitney is an award-winning journalist who was born and raised in Port Hardy. His family has lived in Port Hardy for more than 40 years. He graduated with a degree in writing from Vancouver Island University in 2008. Email: editor@northislandgazette.com