LETTER

Rediscovering . . .  myself!

 

Recently, I returned from a visit to my older son living in the Washington area. He was readying his house for sale and asked for help. I am not the same man I was just ten years ago, and I realized this as soon as I encountered some adversities.

As Theo put it,  'Daddy, I have never seen you just give up!' as he took on the tasks to deal with some problems. He showed me his positive spirit as he dealt with my mistakes, with the determination I used to show in my younger days; he succeeded!

Coming back to my place, a “spring feeling” to get physical caused me to do a stupid thing. Without much thought, I cut down a tree, a huge one, as I have done before. A sudden change in the wind made it crash onto my neighbour's shed. That was when I discovered that I not only have a neighbour, but also a friend who puts his trust in me. Although the weather was not cooperative, he offered to give me a hand and soon we worked on the repair. As with my son, we worked as a team on a common project. It evoked the spirit of a family dealing jointly with reality. A great experience for my waning years!

I rediscovered friendship, trust -- such an important ingredient of humanity -- topped off by family strength. Thank you, my neighbour and friend, Bruno Lumadi, and thank you, my sons, for the experiences which evoke in me the 'old' Rasto. And the winter is somehow still dragging on . . .  .

Rasto Hlavina
Pontiac