Sept 20

This week was the longest week of the summer. It was summer of chaos and adventure, a summer for the history books. Now summer is coming to an end. I couldn’t have picked a better ending than to be on a boat, cruising the crystal clear waters of Okanagan Lake.

Sunday morning greeted my eyes with sunshine and blue sky. It was a greeting that I was very happy to see. After a week choking back oppressive smoke, and keeping back the tears of loss, I was grateful to be bathed in clear air and warm sunshine.

We said our goodbyes to my best friend, my brother from another mother. We connected with his other friends from near and far. A memorial in the coronaverse looked different than most. We sat around the fire and reminisced about days gone by, about a life well-lived. A life that ended too soon.

His wife started the fire on Thursday and this morning the last embers glowed and faded away. His spirit is free now, soaring into the heavens. As we laughed and cried I felt his presence there with us. I kept expecting to see him sitting there with his huge infectious smile beaming back at me. I kept waiting for his laugh, his voice to break the silence, and to rejoice in his zest for life. He is free now, free from all the pain and suffering his lifelong battle with diabetes dealt him. We all admired his strength, his will, and his love. He never complained, and always wanted to help, to give of himself. His final gift was the celebration we had these last few nights, a celebration he was a part of. His body no longer able to attend, his spirit was there in full force.

Now I will figure out how to carry on, I will miss Keith. I will miss his smile and his laugh, his innate ability to see the good in everything, to find the joy. We got to spend the best day at work together a year ago. We set the lines and cruised the calm waters of the Okanagan. Our customers relaxed in the bow of Serendipity. We gloried in the opportunity to wet our lines and troll the depths in search of a lunker. The only thing that would have made that day better would have been to latch onto a large Rainbow Trout. Some things are not meant to be and we returned to the dock without a fish to show. Yet our guests loved the ride and my friend and I celebrated living the dream. We got paid to fish; the best day of work ever.

He gave everything of himself that day. Like many of his days, his pain and discomfort knew a depth most of us could not tolerate. Still, Keith fought through the pain and his weakness. He pushed it down and let it go. He wanted to be in the moment, to live every moment as if it was his last. I think at that time he knew he was living on borrowed time. I admired his strength and resilience and will remember with a smile, my first mate, and fishing buddy.

Now as another Sunday comes to an end in the coronaverse I reflect on this week and this summer. I look back with an aching fondness for what has come to pass. My friend spent a day fishing with me three months ago. It was his first day out of the house since his self-isolation due to covid19. He was a person that needed to be careful, needed to be cautious of contracting the virus that shut down our world. All the care he took, the delay in surgery, and the fear of contracting the virus would prove to be in vain. His time to leave us came to pass.

Today, as my guests on our rental boat laughed with joy and soaked in the warm rays of a late September day, I remember my buddy. We shared a dream of one day taking people on the lake and getting paid for it. Although his body is no longer with me to share the dream; he has left many memories for me to cherish.

The indomitable spirit of Keith Rigby will remain by my side, forever.