Around this time, Caitlin and Trevor got a new puppy, that
they call a Bugg. They named her “Blitz
after the Seattle Seahawks mascot. My
job became, going to their house to puppy sit each day around noon. Caitlin and Trevor hosted Thanksgiving dinner
doubling as a house-warming party, and I had trouble walking across the street into
their house without help.
I couldn’t do it anymore and the next day I stopped taking
the drug. My symptoms slowly started to
improve. Within a couple of weeks, I was
able to start walking again and slowly built it up to 4 kilometers a day. A far cry from the 10K, but it was a
start. Weight was coming off and my
blood pressure stabilized on its own.
Halloween went well.
I did a bunch of modifications on the Darth Vader costume. I obtained a new, more accurate helmet
complete with sound effects. Then I
started trying to modify the helmet by adding fans for ventilation and a Blue
Tooth speaker to allow me to “speak” with Darth Vader’s actual voice. I got a photographer’s vest with pockets to
hold ice packs for under the suit. I
then had a tailor modify the one-piece suit to turn it into a two-piece, jacket
and pants. I had the suit custom fit as
well. The two pieces gave me easier
access and the ability to put the suit on by myself.
The fans didn’t work where I had them placed, so I will
modify them for next year. The heat and
carbon dioxide buildup over the course of 3 hours had me ready to pass out. The cooling vest was too bulky to fit under
the suit and I had to move the speaker to underneath the shoulder armour. Even with all that, Darth Vader was a big hit
with kids and adults alike. I had purchased
400 pieces of candy and had less than 50 pieces left. I lost count at 250 visits.
I finally got the pain in my hands under control. It turned out to be “gouty arthritis”. I started taking a drug called Allopurinol,
to help control the attacks. It helped,
and I was finally ready to start skating to get ready for the season. I switched back to my old blades and headed
off for public skating. It took me 40
minutes just to lace up and tie my skates.
But when I stepped on the ice, I could not skate. I had better control because of the deeper
grooves, but when I first stepped on the ice at the end of March and couldn’t skate,
I quickly became comfy and was able to resume playing, badly. This time I could not do it. I could not let go of the boards.
I hated to admit it to myself, but after 55+ years of
playing the game, I knew it was over.
The other kicker to this whole scenario, was that unlike when I got out
of hospital and was focussed on playing again, this time I found I was not
missing the game, and new it was time to “retire”. So, I say down and wrote retirement letters
to both of my teams, and just like that, I was done. There was some sadness, but also an
acceptance
I met and spoke to Renee for the last time at a get together
at VanDusen gardens for the Festival of Lights.
First time I’ve ever been to it and I took lots of photos of the
lights. I didn’t spend a lot of time
with Renee but drove her home after to drop off all her belongings from my
place. That was it, 15 years over.
The end of November came around and I started decorating for
Christmas. Last year I had one
inflatable an 8 foot Frosty the Snowman.
But this year, after the motor in my Halloween Ghoul named Norbert fried
itself, I went online to find a replacement.
It turned out to be cheaper to get a new one, mail order from
Minnesota. At the same time, I ordered a
Santa Claus and a Rudolph reindeer.
These were $160 each at Canadian Tire and I ordered these for $45 American
and even with the exchange rate, duty and shipping they were half the cost.
I had already put up all the lights on the house when they
arrived. My plan was to leave Frosty on
the deck and put Santa and the reindeer on the driveway. I had no idea how big they were, 12 feet, and
when I inflated them, they covered the from of the house and blocked all the
lights. So, I moved Frosty out front,
put the reindeer on the deck and put Santa beside the house. It looked great, until our huge windstorm hit,
and I had to deflate them all and weight them down.
Usually I host Christmas at my place on Boxing Day. But this year for various reasons it was
moved to Christmas Eve. Plans were laid
in for the usual 8 attendees and the dog.
However, this year it was whittled down quickly. Renee was gone, Tamara’s boyfriend Stephen
had to work, and Karl’s girlfriend Lizeth couldn’t come as her Dad was dying of
cancer and she wanted to be with him. So,
8 became 5, but there was a dog as Caitlin and Trevor brought their dog “Blitz”.
We had a great time together, just me and my kids. It was then present opening time. Everyone insisted that I should open my gifts
first, and I was handed two packages from Caitlin and Trevor which one got
opened first. The first was a new coffee
mug which said, “absolutely the best Grandpa ever”, I was shaking by now. The second was an ultra-sound photo in a
frame that said, “Grandkids are made with hugs and kisses”. The first photo, of
my first Grandchild. This is how I discovered that I would be a Grandpa for the
first time in late June 2019.
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