My dad's gift of a Maritime vacation became a holiday of healing

This First Person column is the experience of Lisa Kasky, a Beausejour, Man., writer and travel lover. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.

My parents, who lived and raised their family on a small Manitoba farm for 50 years, often visited the West Coast, because Mom was born and raised there.

But their dream, especially my mom's, was to visit the East Coast.

As the years went on, however, the dream faded. Dad's legs were slowly failing him; it was hard for him to walk without pain in his back ever since his lower vertebra was broken. It kept him close to his chair or walker.

Meanwhile, Mom had dementia, and it was progressively getting worse. 

Then, out of the blue, in November 2019, Dad surprised us with a trip for his four daughters and wife to go and visit the Maritimes. We planned for the summer of 2020, and grew excited as the year progressed.

By March, we were about to book tickets to fly to Fredericton.

And then COVID-19 hit.

The Maritimes were soon placed in their own little bubble, and we would have to patiently wait for life to get somewhat normal again.

That normalcy finally arrived in April 2021. By August, the Maritime provinces were out of their bubble. 

Dad poured himself into the planning of our trip. Plane tickets were purchased for a July 31 departure for me, my mom, and my sisters, Leona and Anita.

A car was rented. Airbnbs were booked. Every visit to the farm was spent talking about our pending adventures.

"You'll have a lobster feast on me," Dad would say, winking at me, knowing my tolerance for seafood was just that — tolerance.

"And every night you can phone me and tell me how you did and how your mom is doing," he'd say, knowing that mom still had good days, but the bad days were slowly outnumbering them.