Good bye, Dad.

I've been putting this off for weeks (can you tell?)

However, it's time.

Nov 10, 2018 was a day of Celebration. Of the life of my Father, John B.R. Gilchrist.

Born Sept 15, 1944
Died Sept 18, 2018

The last thing I said to him, on his birthday, was "I love you".  He died less than 72 hours later.
I'm devastated, heartbroken, and just.... lost.

Anyway, I booked a trip to Calgary for this event. I took a dress that Crysi said I had to buy, because it looked great.  So, I did and decided that I was going to look like a million bucks (and I did!). I stayed with Ruth for a couple of days.  It was weird, being in that house without dad.


All of the food was pot luck, and Ruth provided a lot of the meat.  We did a lot of the cooking at her place.

Day of the Celebration, Ruth decided to wear her favourite dress. She asked me if she was going to be over dressed and I told her "You like that dress, Dad liked it, wear it. It's appropriate". It was. She looked great.

We get to the hall, and got things started, and were waiting for the "muscle" to show up. There's no way we could have moved tables, that's for sure.  So, I'm sitting at one of the few already set up tables, and Ruth is at another.  Her daughter Michelle comes in, and I wave a bit and go back to what I'm doing.  She looks at me with a small smile and a "who are you" look, but didn't say anything to me. I realized she didn't recognise me, so I just waited. 

A few minutes later, Ruth introduces me to an old friend of Dad's, and Michelle just about lost her mind.  She was like "NO WAY!" etc.  I thought it was hysterical :P  She kept looking at me like I was an alien (remember, I've dropped 130ish lbs by this point. I also hadn't known that dad hadn't told them about my surgery ). 

We then went to pick up my sister, and then needed to help Jen with some things. Jen saw me in the car, and michelle tells me that Jen asked "whos' that?" and M replied "random friends and family". I realized then that Michelle wanted me to do the same to Jen, as I did to her. Okay, will do.

Back at the hall, the muscle has gotten most of the tables up, and I'm just helping moving food around in the kitchen, etc.  Michelle asked "have you done it yet?" I laughed and said "no, I want you there. come on then".
Into the kitchen we go, and Jen looks at me, then sticks her hand out "Hi, I'm Jen!".  I couldn't resist - I shook her hand and said "I'm Tracee, nice to meet you".  She literally fell out of her shoes.

Sadly, that was the last fun part.  Jim and Kim came for moral support, which was lovely! Thank you!

They did a lovely photo tribute to my dad and Ruth, and everyone in the family did little videos...except my sister and I.  His only bio-kids.  One photo of sister, and NONE of me in the whole thing.  And yes, they did it on purpose. I've always been "John's daughter", but that night - no one would have known that.  I didn't say anything, because I refused to ruin the night for Ruth.  She is not like that - it's just Jen and her other daughter Mel.

Whew. Glad I got that over with.

So, fare the well, Dad.  I'll be okay, eventually.

maybe.