World Parkinson’s Day

Today on World Parkinson’s Day, I’m thinking about my dad, who died on July 10, 2020.

I don’t need an awareness day to celebrate him, though. I think about him every single day, and he’s with me in so many things that I do.

In his last weeks, I had several wonderful conversations with him. He wanted to hear about my long list of plants and trees that I hoped to grow in my dream garden – he was a forester and listened with a slight smile. “You need to think about how they’ll all look together when they’re at full height, kiddo.”

There was a tree outside the care home where he stayed for the final months of his life, and he sat on one side of a gate while I sat on the other, asking me how I would prune it (this was in the worst days of the pandemic, when we couldn’t go inside care homes because of outbreaks).

I have a million lessons like this in my head and my heart, where I ask myself, “How would Dad do that?”

His death was the impetus for moving to Victoria, into a little home with a huge flat lawn – that I have been filling with a chaotic mix of trees, shrubs, perennials, and endless flowers. My business is also named in his honour; the arbutus was his favourite tree.

Of all the lessons my dad gave me, his final one was the biggest: life is just too short to not pursue your dreams.

For all of you out there who are supporting or providing care for a loved one with Parkinson’s, or grieving a loss, or suffering from Parkinson’s yourself, I see you.

It’s a nasty brutal disease, and I hope someday there’s a cure.

Hold yourself tender and allow yourself grace.