Fall Days (274/365)

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October 1, 2015 – I am starting to think of fall as the season of death. Despite the beauty is affords, it takes away loved ones.

Nature seems to try and make up for the coming dark and dreary days by creating a spectacular show of colour. Maybe it’s her way of comforting us and giving us a memory.

When I took this photo I was still out of cell phone service range and did not yet know that my father had passed away while I was out at a remote work site on the outer coast of Vancouver Island. It was in the back of my mind that I might come out and get the news, but I didn’t yet know…

I’d had a difficult decision as I knew Dad wasn’t doing well, but he’d been fluctuating for a few weeks. I had the trip into a remote site planned, it’s not one I can get to more than once a year, if that, and I had some work to do out there with an engineer and others. I knew I’d be out of communication range, and after a discussion with family, decided to go.

The work on the river kept my mind occupied, but when I got back into cell phone range on the trip home, I got the call I’d been dreading.

He was gone.

I know he would have loved to have been where I was, Dad always enjoyed the solitude of the outdoors, and he loved to fish. He was there with me, and the fish and the bears, in spirit.

Wayne Robert Ackerman – December 26, 1938 – October 1, 2015.

Rest in Peace Dad.