April ~ Part 1: Travelling to soothe the grief
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If viewing on an iPad, I recommend Landscape View, rather than Portrait….
For my family, April was the saddest month by far in a long, long, time, as my son Sean died on April 18 after a long and recently terrible struggle with cancer. He was three months and two days short of his 53rd birthday, and had been living with the disease since his colorectal cancer was diagnosed in 2016.
While we miss him profoundly every day, we take comfort knowing that he no longer has to suffer from disease that, especially in his last months, stole his physical strength and eventually his ability to breathe. Brave and determined to the very end, he set an example for all of us to follow. Writing about him and his amazing life is still a great challenge for me. I’m not going to attempt that journey here/now….
Instead, I will focus on my passion — birding and nature photography. While Sean was much more into fishing and hunting (for food) than I, he was also a capable photographer and a dedicated conservationist. He wasn’t as much ‘into birds’ in general, but he was very fascinated by birds that shared his passions — raptors, especially Ospreys and eagles, and loons….
There were a couple of other Ospreys in the area that day as well, flying well above her….
No conflict that I could see, but she was clearly aware of something “up there.”
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Birding was a great consolation in April. Spending time with my younger son Mike helped, too. My wife Nana, going through her own cancer journey, was a rock of support. Like Sean, she was/is determined to make the most of whatever time she ‘has left’, and to that end, took up kayaking in May.
We travelled from Kelowna to one of our favourite provincial parks and its environs several times from April until fire season began at the end of June. These favourite natural settings were immensely comforting to both of us.
Closer to home we enjoyed great RW Blackbird sightings again this month as well as ducks that we count on getting close to only at this time of year — American Wigeons, AGWTeals and Hooded Mergansers, especially.
To keep my posts a little shorter than I have in the past, I’m stopping here.
There’s more on April in these posts:
2021: April, Part 6 ~ Late April into May ~ birding and travel
birds & musings 