rubber side down and keep yer chin up little camper.

as a kid growing up there were few people who really impressed me. or made me think that they were pretty cool. my uncle glen was one. he and his wife denny had an old datsun convertable, i think, that i thought was cool. i believe it had a checkerboard patterned top. my dad was up there. he would fix my floor hockey sticks so they wouldn't bend by putting wood into the middle of them producing a very hard wrist shot. he did other things, of course, but that was one of them. my mom was always cool, and still is. she would drive me to hockey early in the morning, watch me play baseball, do everything else i needed done and always told me i was the best at whatever it was..which was rarely true...but that's ok...
but this isn't about them. not today. because i could talk about them and others for a long time.
when i was growing up one of the things that i remember the most are the summers i spent at sprott lake and in port alberni. we'd stay at my grannie's place or at the lake for a lot of the summer. my cousins were always around and for the most part we all got along well. we were kids so it was easy. we swam, watched the mars water bombers and ate like champs.
one of my cousins that that came to the lake was my cousin rob-he is actually a second cousin so he's my mom's age not mine . he was from california and had a brother, les, who lived in maple ridge. they were both printers and had lives i really thought were cool. they grew-up in california, lived that life, had both married women named jan, which always reminded me of jan and dean. they water skied better than anyone else, were always laughing and les' kids, anne and eric, were two of my favorite cousins. les and rob's mother was my grannie's sister, agnus.
i saw rob, now probably in his late 60's, in the summer at my mom's place. still funny, still givin' 'er shit. they were up to visit and i made sure i made it out to issy's to see them.
i found out today that rob has been diagnosed with cancer and has a couple of months to live. he's upset, as he should be and i know there are a lot of people on his team right now. les has gone down to be with him and help out where he can. we were never close but i always liked that guy. he is a good man. and i want the best for him. i would like to see him but i don't know if that will happen.
take care rob. we love you.

garn xo