As Good As It Can Be

The weather has improved Saturday. Every so often the sun is close to peeking out from behind the clouds. An occasion today is the reason we've come to Whistler this weekend.

We drive down to a cemetery just north of Squamish to attend a memorial service for a lovely woman we've known for years, the wife of Kathy's former principal and Brian's colleague.

It's a lovely service. The minister who came to know Leslie in the hospice speaks informally but movingly about her. Three of her granddaughters bravely read through the tributes they've prepared. Leslie's son speaks on behalf of the family. There are tears and laughter.

We then go to their daughter's house nearby and enjoy mingling with former colleagues, many of whom we haven't seen in more than ten years. The family provides gracious hospitality, and everybody most certainly must depart as we do with good memories. More than once, somebody says, "It's too bad we have to meet at an occasion like this..." And, as well, "Leslie would have enjoyed it."

It was as good as such an occasion can be.