The Story With A Tragic Ending

It was two weeks ago today. We were invited to an impromptu family gathering and potluck supper. It was a reunion of sorts. My cousin, Jake and his wife Cheryl, had invited us to his acreage outside of Calgary. I had not seen this cousin for several years and it was many many years before that. He had invited two of his siblings, Dave and Vivian. I had not seen these two cousins for more than 3o years.
My dad and their mother were brother and sister. My cousins and their family lived on a farm near Pierceland, Saskatchewan. We lived in Saskatoon. My aunt and uncle had 14 or more children. Our family numbered 9. One can see how coming together for a visit for any amount of time was quite an undertaking. Yet these were the only cousins on my dad's side that we ever visited.
I must admit that farm living was not my cup of tea. At the ages of 6 through 9 we visited the farm several times. It was a place of strange happenings. I saw chickens slaughtered. Chickens can run around without a head. Believe me I had nightmares about that for years to come. I was lifted onto a horse only to fall off of it. There is nothing scarier than lying at the feet of a horse the size of a monster. We had to eat moose meat and fresh milk from a cow. We had to watch out for the bear traps because they had a pesky time with the little beasties. My uncle loved to hunt and had indeed caught a bear or two. My older cousins took advantage of us gullible city mice. I believed everything they told us and usually the joke was on me.
It was these memories that I thought of when we went to see my cousins, their spouses, their children and grandchildren. I have come to the conclusion that big farm families have big families also. It was nice to see them and catch up on their lives, their children, and their grandchildren. We talked and talked. It felt natural to have conversations with them. We decided that we had to get together more often. Personally, I was excited about the genealogy prospects of talking to them.
When it was time for us to leave, I gave Jake, Cheryl and Dave all a huge hug and thanked them for inviting me to a “family get together”.

Little did I know that this would be the last time that I would see Dave. He was tragically killed in a motor vehicle accident this past Tuesday.
Life has never felt so fragile. Give your family a hug today. We can not know what the future holds in store for us.
WendyKH