We knew the day was coming.
It didn’t make it any easier.
I know this is a professional platform. And so many of you are in my circle because of Dad. Because of our work together.
I got to sit in rooms I didn’t belong so much earlier than I should have been there.
I’m grateful we live in a country that allows us the decency of choice at the end. From May of 2020, he lived 6 months at atime The entire staff at Réseau de santé Vitalité and leading up within Horizon Health Network were incredible on his MAID journey.
He gave to the very end. He would have preferred to go in his own bed in the morning. But he wanted to be an organ donor more. And so we made the trek to the Dumont and sterile confines of the ICU. It was as raw and real as you can imagine.
With his wife by his side, his mother holding his arm and Mark Symes and I holding both of his hands, he died courageously. His body, so tense from years of fighting the disease, gave way so peacefully.
Say what you will about our healthcare system – and there is much to improve – But the people who show up every day to lead and serve in the system are simply incredible. I’ve had the incredible honour of working with so many of them – France Desrosiers, Margaret Melanson, Patrick Parent, MBA, Greg Doiron, Sharon Smyth-Okana and so many others in NB and in NS. Brittany Nicholson and the Organ Transplant team get too little credit for the impossible role they play in giving life.
All we have in this world are the relationships we nurture.
Seize the day. Take the Photo. Sink into the moments that truly matter.
Dad believed in bringing people together around activities. He spent a lifetime showing up for ours. When I started playing golf, he did too. He would have preferred to spend his days on the water but he could spend meaningful time with his boys on the golf course.
Every year we would get away for at least a week – he said often it was his favourite week of the year. We’d play a few courses and our views on the world would collide. Mark and his forestry/environmental background. My Historical/Educational background. And Dad’s Chemical Engineering/Corporate background. We debated the world’s problems. It was where we learned we could work together.
It is the origin story of Symplicity Designs.
Dad, Mark and I always said we’d play the Old Course at St. Andrews. Mark and I will have to make that journey on our own now, in honour of him.
So fortunate we were to have had a Father that showed up like he did. He coached us, challenged us enough to be sure we had thought it through, and was always our biggest champion.
When we fell, and we both did multiple times, he was there to help us face it, learn from it, make the improvements required, and move forward.
That is unconditional love.
Rest Easy Dad. I’ll miss you at every big decision point, in every new lesson I’ll learn, and in every celebration on this journey.
