SURGERY, GRADUATION AND LIFE GOES ON

          The sun has finally burnt away the clouds; if only it had done the same with those pesky mosquitoes.  I do believe we've had more than our share of rain and I know the New Brunswick farmers are suffering from the continual deluges - I can't imagine what it was like for Noah when it rained for 40 days and 40 nights - it must have been one heavy unimaginable downpour because it's rained off and on for a long time now and we're still above water.
          Sarah and Jessica are in Halifax and will be there for several days.  Injuries resulting from a severe automobile accident when Jess was almost three years of age has taken them to Children's Hospital where she will undergo an operation this morning, to help mend a collar bone that never healed properly.  Apparently, the surgeon is going to remove a small portion of bone from her left hip and attach it to her right collar bone, which should then hold it in place properly.  Jessica is very fortunate to be alive today and in as good as shape as she is, especially since her left arm was almost completely severed at the shoulder and both her legs were broken in the accident.  The way she runs and leaps around, except for some major scars, one would never know that she had almost been killed along with her dad on that fateful day on Jingle Pot Road in Nanaimo, BC.
          Although that accident changed the lives of Sarah's family, it also changed mine.  I had actually been the best man at her wedding and caught her garter, which I believe means that I would be the next to marry - who would have thought years later, after her husband was killed, that I would be his replacement.  Not sure if way back when in the days of yore, if that was the best man's duty or not, but if it was, I guess I filled the bill.
          Summer is almost upon us and the "Lakers" are now in full swing, returning to their "camps" or cottages that are quaintly tucked around the lakes.  Since Sarah opened her wee coffee shop a few weekends ago (only open on weekends), some of their friendly, smiling faces are beginning to brighten our doorway once again.  I filled in for her yesterday and although it was a cloudy, somewhat dismal day, I actually served a few of them, plus some friends like Bill Leeman and his son Brendan - we had a  hard on the stomach from laughing so hard, good time.  Not sure if Sarah and Jessica will return by the next weekend but if not, guess I'll have to don her apron once again and open up the coffee shop.
          Besides Jessica's operation, Rachel, her other daughter, is graduating this year, which to me as far as pomp and ceremony goes, is beginning to rival the Queen's Coronation; one almost needs a royal larder full of gold and priceless jewels to participate in this event.  I sometimes wonder if the celebration for graduation is the educational system's way of covering up the lack of education the kids are now receiving.  Sadly, from what I can decipher, Rachel's grade 12 is about equivalent to my Grade 10 or lower.  The future of our civilization, which is rather calamitous, could possibly be bordering on extinction, I'm just completely bewildered why the government has cut educational development, especially when unfortunately, because of my generation and the next generation's lack of concern for the Earth, this new generation and the one following will be left with hardly any natural resources to carry on - water and food being a premium - we can't drink or eat bloody oil.  Rachel has been packing her bags for the past few weeks, since she is leaving home, I believe, the day after graduation.  She is moving to her grandma's place in Lethbridge, Alta. and her boyfriend Adrian is going to work in the oilfields.  I'm sad to say, I don't have much respect for him to work at such a place, where a huge amount of Alberta has been turned into a toxic wasteland in order to earn a few paltry bucks.  But then our poorly managed government and our poor excuse of education have left them and many other young people just as ignorant as the day they began school, so what is to be expected, especially when because of the media and internet these days, they are led to believe that what a person wears and what they drive are somehow the most important things to acquire.
          But I ramble and babble on, and why bother says I, only a wee few nod their heads in agreement and most can't see, won't see or have never taken the time to see the perils that every living being upon this planet is now facing in a not very distant future.  Many believe that science will come up with a solution like the US Cavalry suddenly appearing out of no where when all looks lost.  From what I've read, the scientists are telling us to beware and that there isn't any big miracle cure for our survival if we don't make drastic and I mean severely drastic changes to our lifestyles and our way of thinking.  Well, before I get too carried away with my rant and write more than anyone will ever care to read on this blog, it's time for me to do some chores around my little world of paradise.  I don't look at the 50 acres I bought as ownership - to me, I am the caretaker of what abides here and as long as I live, everything is safe, and I mean everything, right from a blade of grass to a pesky mosquitoe - only natural disasters and of course self-preservation rule here - cheers, eh!