2007: Remembering Dominique
I believe that if we all lived our lives like an open book, then we would better understand one another as hiding things from others simply breeds suspicion. We are all human, we all have emotions and everyday struggles. I am no different then anybody else in this world but I think memory fades with time, hence why I am recording this now. Two years ago now, my youngest sister died.
Summers by the pool
My most happy memory of the time I spent with my sister Dominique and my other sister Melanie was in our family pool during the summer months. In Canada we have two months break from school, a relic of our countries earlier harvesting days, which we always took full advantage of. It was the 1980s and early 1990s where, every summer, we would alternate from jumping off the diving board and roasting on the hot sun on the concrete slabs surrounding the pool. News of wearing sunscreen hadn’t hit the mass market yet so we where burnt like toast just about everyday, oddly enough, I don’t remember getting that many sunburns. Our complexion darkened to the point where even today, I am far darker then most of the people I have the pleasure of spending time with. We would have contests all summer long with my parents, drinking his cold water under the shade of the Oak tree right next to the pool talking. Who can hold their breath the longest, who can swim the most laps, who can make the biggest splash and the list went on. In hindsight, we where actually quite a bunch of competitive kids trying to best one another. The fact that I was a few years older then either of my sisters made no difference, we wanted to be better then the other. I remember we use to play a monster game where I, as the oldest, was the monster… I would make lots of splashes and they would have to go from one end of the pool to the other without me catching them. We also had a slide which provided hours of fun as well. It was really a great time for the entire family. We would always beg our parents to join us in the pool and usually they did later in the afternoon. I think the fact that we where all very young and ignorant of the world around us made that time that much better, we had no worries, no pressures nor much to think about during those summer months other then two straight months of playing. The summers are also when we would visit or be visited by our extended family, it was the one time year that everybody had time off to meet up. Summers have been special ever since.
Lessons two years on
Well, it’s been two years now, the emotions aren’t gone at all, nor would I want it any other way. I do have to credit my sisters death for putting the fire under my ass to make things happen faster then would have otherwise been. Facing mortality makes you realize that our time on this Earth is rather limited and can be taken away at any time. I decided long ago that I would not live a life of regrets, wishing I did this instead of that, trying to re-visit the past etc. , not sure where this came from but so far, it has served me very well. I live in two kinds of worlds as a result, one that is short term where I make key decisions right away, wasting as little time debating them as possible, taking steps immediately to make them become reality while the other is trying to plan out my future. Sometimes it’s difficult to decide where a decision goes though, long term or short but regardless, I waste as little time debating this as well. Live is about living it, trying to get as much out of it as possible before it’s taken away by your actions or those of somebody else.
The Bottom Line
Christmas is as much about celebration as reflection.
