Of the many days that I think of Mike, there are often very different feelings that come with the memories. Often it is just sadness. Sad that I can’t spend time with my friend, share stories, talk about the work, talk about our kids.... I’m often sad that Mike’s family has to continue without him and I have a hard time understanding why they were denied a long and happy life with Mike while so many others seem so lucky.
But, most of the time I spend thinking about Mike, it’s with a smile on my face. My memories with Mike are happy ones and that is reflected in how he stays with me as time goes by.
For example, I never had the pleasure of going to pick apples with Mike and his family but I certainly heard about the tradition and how much it meant to him. I have seen some great pictures from these trips and there are always smiles ‘all around’. So, a couple of weeks ago my family was returning to Picton from a trip to Kingston and we passed an apple orchard just past Bath and decided to stop. It’s a scene from countless spots across Southern Ontario with the little farm stand out by the road that is almost lost in a sea of apples and pumpkins and other decorative gourds. It was late in the afternoon but it was still warm and sunny. We went into the orchard and within 10 minutes we had all the apples we could carry and headed back to the car. But there I was standing in this orchard on a beautiful fall afternoon with the warm sun in my face and the smell of fallen apples in the air and I really understood why these trips were so important to MIke. I’m not sure what he is up to these days but I really felt like he was around on that day and that he was smiling.
Darren
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