Yesterday my mom and I went to see my step-father Paul on Vancouver Island. It's a long trek over there from Abbotsford, takes about 5 hours each way between driving and sitting on the ferry. My mom gets very stressed out from it and it's an emotional time for her.

Paul was very confused as to who we were. He knew our faces but couldn't place our names. He smiled when my mom came in the room and stood up and hugged her. But he didn't know her name. He hugged me and said it was good to see me in his usual loving way but no clue as to who I was.

Conversation is difficult between him telling us about his 'new job' with the Govt Health Dept (?) and the young couple that comes and visits him every day with their baby (Picture of his granddaughter on the dresser). He doesn't seem to think anyone else comes although I know his daughter and son come regularly.

I wonder sometimes why God keeps people around. My Opa thought God forgot about him when he got to be 98 years old and still alive. Paul is 86 and his body lives on without his mind. I can never figure these things out and when I get to heaven I'm going to ask what it's all about anyways. Why does God take home people who have their whole life ahead of them?

Paul is a wonderful kind, loving man who adores my Mom and has treated her like a Queen. He's been generous to me loving me like a daughter. He loved my brother John and wept when we lost him. He doesn't know my other brother and wife because they're never around.

I grieve for the loss of Paul whenever we visit. It's saying goodbye in bits and pieces as we watch his mind fail and body grow weak. He's a shadow of his former self. I look forward to the day when God takes him home and gives him a new body.
Here's to you Mr. Paul, hope 2010 is good to you and God blesses you and gives you His peace.