My Journey With Health And Fitness – Grief Has Been Everywhere The Last Week

We’ve had horrible weather the past few mornings. Of course that means I had to use the treadmill. I did about 1 hour 15 minutes on it yesterday and as usual hated it. Today it was an hour and then I thought maybe try the recumbent bike. And so I tried that which of course meant using a whole new set of muscles. That was really not the problem, it was it is just as boring as using the treadmill. Sigh, I hate it when we are in the rainy season.

This past week grief has been everywhere. It started with recognizing that it has been 5 months since my brother passed away. That in itself is hard enough as I still miss him. Then Saturday we went to a gathering for our neighbour’s father who ironically had the same 1st name as my brother. We didn’t know him well but since we adore his son and his family there was no way we would miss it. 2 days later that same neighbour let us know that at the Remembrance Day ceremonies the Legion called out my brother’s name as someone that was lost this year. To top it all off a former co-worker passed away.

So you would think that would be enough to deal with but no, there was more. Tuesday I received a text that a former BC Premier, John Horgan, had passed away that morning. John was an extremely popular premier and many people in BC are mourning his loss. But for me it went deeper than that. John and I worked together on many issues within the energy industry when he was the official Energy Critic. We became good friends and so his passing at age 65 was just another hit for the week.

Again I thought I was done but fate would have just one more to pile on. It wasn’t that someone else had passed rather it was a memory on FaceBook that 10 years ago today my sister found her partner dead in his apartment after having suffered a heart attack during the night. Her partner was actually a friend of mine before they got together and my heart broke when we lost him Sadly that reminder just added on to the weight of the grief I was feeling this week.

But, it’s ok. We are taking my sister out for a drink this afternoon and we will take a moment and celebrate all of them. I am not letting all of this get to me today, instead I am going to remember the good times with each of them because really it is time to just take in the fond memories.