Sanctity Dept: Yet since my own father died suddenly of a heart attack last October at 54, my attempts to clean up the mess he left, in the ways that had worked so well before, have failed me, according to Globe And Mail. All these months later, however, I still look at his life and see so many rough edges and i have appreciated these traditions, participated in them and understood their sanctity. When my grandfather died last year, my family spent many hours remembering his more than 90 years of life. We understandably focused on the 85 of those years he lived without dementia, able to remember the details of every dinner he’d eaten since 1940. My father’s family and friends went through the same rituals of smoothing over the cracks in his life at the funeral. We joked about his lack of dress sense, about his love for gadgets and his inability to hold a hammer the right way up. His compassion and community-building as a family physician in small towns in Saskatchewan and Alberta figured prominently in people’s tributes. As
reported in the news.
@t rough edges, family physician
24.8.10