Old Friends

One of the more difficult sensations that you have to deal with as you get older is saying goodbye to old friends and I’m not just talking about people, which in itself is hard enough. Let me give you some examples.

In the fall of 2007 I said goodbye to a pair of snow machines that I had owned for almost twenty years. The decision to sell them was a hard one and one that I had put off several times in the last five years. Each time I started to type the newspaper ad, old memories flashed across my computer screen. I would sit there, hands on the keyboard and remember the snowy trails we had shared. I visualized skimming across the incredibly white expanse of Lake Laberge, exploring the wooded trails of the Mount Laurier valley and the exhilarating first ride of the season across the Yukon River ice with the dogs as puppies riding the seat in front of me.

I was saying goodbye to two old friends who, with a little TLC and some maintenance now and then, had provided us with endless amounts of carefree winter entertainment and unerringly brought us home time and time again. It was a sad day when I watched them disappear up our driveway in the back of the new owner’s pickup.

Last year old Willard the cat departed for that big sandbox in the sky in his 21st year of living at Lake Laberge.  Without fail, in rain, shine, sleet or snow the wily feline was there to greet us at the door. We never really owned Willard; he lived with us for a time and reigned supreme over the rest of the four-footed clan and wasn’t the least bit shy about standing up to the largest of them. His ashes are spread underneath his favorite Aspen tree.

The twenty-year old pickup truck and I have covered 400,000 kilometers of Yukon roads together. It tries valiantly to keep up with the modern demands of living in the bush but I can see that it too will soon disappear. It will be another sad day at Laberge when that happens.

My elbows are breaking down and I am sure that the pull start outboard motor, the maul and axe and such other hand tools are next.

The positive side of all this of course is that we go on to acquire the less physically demanding replacements that are now available and they in turn allow us to enjoy and live our chosen lifestyle a little longer before it is our turn to retire.