March Break & My Uncle Steve
This week had ups and downs. March break is always a week to look forward as I get to spend time with family. This year it included extended family.
On Friday, it was a PA day. So we decided to have some down time at home. The kids were so looking forward to this. I think they thought that they were going to be on screens all day... however, I broke this up with baking cookies, playing board games and a little outside time.
On Saturday after hockey we travelled to McCowan Park in Scarborough where they have an outdoor ice skating circle that is chilled from below. It was a mild day so it had patches of slush, but they were clearly marked by pylons, and it was reasonable enough to enjoy outside time with the family. There was also a rink where Brian and Easton were able to play some shinny as they both had helmets.
Sunday morning was hockey again for Easton, we changed our clocks for day light savings, and spent most of the day at home after early morning hockey. The week ahead was going to be a busy one so a day at home was nice.
I got news this day that my uncle Steve had passed away. I was in shock! Mental health is serious! Suicide is not what I was expecting to have to wrap my mind around, but here it was in front of me. I haven't seen my uncle in just over a year, but the last time I saw him, he was happy. I had the best conversation I had ever had with him... in my life. He was sharing news about his cottage, about his kids, grandkids and life. Sadly he had suffered from seizures for a few years, sometimes up to 5 a day due to a workplace accident from a windstorm clean up that he was helping with, and then after many difficult years dealing with this, he finally had brain surgery last spring. It seems the surgery really changed his personality and things went downhill from there. I don't pretend to know the ins and outs. I just knew I had to be there to support my cousins, and other extended family. My uncles oldest daughter Natasha was like a sister to me when we were kids. My sister Mandy and I would either stay at her house every weekend or she would be at ours.
Of course I loved my other cousins in that family too but they were 5 and 10 years younger so we didn't have the same connection. Still, I felt their pain. I am incredibly sad for my cousins. They were a very close knit family and will feel very lost as they navigate the next year, and years to come. I think there were over 400 people at the visitation, and then I attended the private family service that had about 70 or so, with a food and drinks after for visiting time. I choose to remember him as the soft spoken man that was happy in our last conversation.
Despite rearranging the March break around this time of grief, I was glad that my kids didn't really know him and could stay home with Brian to enjoy their March Break without such heaviness that my cousins kids will have to endure about their beloved Papa.
On a brighter side of March Break, we did manage to fit in a movie date to see the Paw Patrol movie where the kids used their gift cards from Christmas. We stopped in a Nebs Fun World to enjoy a few rides. We enjoyed some time at Rocket Ship Park. Chapters had a free day of fun where we did a scavenger hunt, played games, made a craft and Hadley did an LOL toy exchange for doubles that she has.
Easton had a full hockey practice with Rob Pearson, a former Toronto Maple Leaf. He was pretty excited to get an autographed card and he even got Rob to sign his stick.
There was a giant snow hill at the park near the rec centre that the kids loved playing on as it is probably the biggest snow hill they have ever seen.
Hadley and I went with some friends from school (Ashna and Aria) to the Tales for Tails program at the Pickering Animal Services centre where the kids could read to, or socialize with dogs, cats and kittens! Hadley loved this! She even made cat toys that she could use to play with the kittens and then leave them behind for play at a later time.
There was also homemade pizza, that somehow turned out to be in the shape of a heart.
Perhaps animal cuddles and heart shaped pizza was exactly what I needed.