Chasing the Comet: A Scottish-Canadian Life

Epilogue

An monie a sair daurk we twa hae wrought, An’ wi’ the weary warl’ fought! —Robert Burns,“New Year Morning Salutation” EPILOGUE This page intentionally left blank c Close to ninety years have passed since I was a young lad, running in the fields of Scotland, celebrating Halley’s Comet. These days, the vast fields of my labour are gone from my life. I now work in a small garden plot at the back of my seniors’ care home, yet even this bit of land is bountiful, adding joy to my living. I’m still called “the farmer,” and friends smile when they see my tomatoes reddening and growing juicy on the vines. In my ninety-eight years, I’ve travelled to places beyond my dreaming when I was a boy. Many friends have brought me joy and fill my mind with good memories. I’ve a warm family that cares for me, but I do miss Peggy. She was a brave woman and good wife to me. After we returned from Africa, on our fiftieth wedding anniversary, Peggy and I shared a joyful cruise to Alaska, a close time and happy time for us. Not long after this—because of Peggy’s need for doctoring—we had to sell our wee home in Aldergrove. The long drive to doctors’ offices in town made her very uncomfortable from the pain in her hip, so we moved to a more convenient apartment in White Rock, where we lived for several years. It was here Peggy died of a stroke, lasting only a few days after she was hit with it. There was no funeral, because I did what she’d told me to do. Travelling alone, I took her ashes to Paul Lake, carrying them in 235 a small, foil-covered box. Some I spread on the ground around the house where we’d stayed when she was expecting her daughter , Ethel. Some I placed around the house where we’d stayed on weekends away from Tanquille. Some I spread by the road at the lakeside, where she’d often walked. By doing this, I returned her to a place she thought most peaceful, a place where we’d both found happiness many times. It rained on the day I put her to rest. Though the rain blended with my tears, there was satisfaction in doing what she’d asked me to do. Peggy had endured so much for so long, it was a relief to know her suffering had ended. The world continues to change. The Provincial Mental Hospital (Essondale) is no more. Colony Farm fields are overgrown, with much of the land returned to serving the needs of herons and other birds, to the small wild animals and plants that have grown there always. The house Peggy and I shared when I was farm manager is no longer used. Peggy’s roses and gardens are overgrown. I understand the community is making plans, considering the Colony Farm lands for a mix of changes, perhaps a nature park, perhaps housing development, perhaps other things. I miss the way it was, yet change is nature’s way. Nothing ever stays the same. Even Halley’s Comet shone dimmer on its last visit. (Perhaps you could say I’m becoming a little dimmer too, because my memory’s sure not a shining talent anymore.) Yet—like me—that comet’s still travelling, still circling back to the skies of Scotland, as I’ve done in aeroplanes many times over the years, and still do in my mind. Though I’m no longer confident enough to travel physically that far, I know my thoughts will forever return to my father, to his good Scottish teaching, to the family we shared. I have few regrets about the life I’ve lived. I wish I had been a better father and a better husband, but I did what I could, considering what I’d known. I always put my job first, but I wish now I’d not done that so much. Yet in spite of my not spending enough time with them, the children I helped raise have become very successful adults. 236 CHASING THE COMET Geordie became a teacher and married his high-school sweetheart , Joan Sargent. He was a high-school principal and now is retired from being...