One more story

I have one more story to tell about the day my dad passed away.

Early that morning, my sister and I watched the rain falling outside her living room window and wondered whether to brave a coastal stroll from Dixon Park Beach to Merewether Baths.

It’s our favourite way to start the day whenever I visit her.

As we drove through the wet streets we decided we could huddle undercover with a coffee and watch the waves.

But, just as my sister parked her car behind the Sunnyboy cafe, the skies cleared.

It felt like the tiniest of miracles during a very grey week.

We sipped our coffees and gazed at the gorgeous sunrise as we walked. That’s my sister on the left, wheeling a doggie pram for her elderly schnauzer, who loves a beach visit, but tires easily …

As we approached Merewether Surfhouse, a rainbow appeared and we wondered if it was a sign.

We turned to watch the waves crashing on the shore and saw a cormorant sitting on the water’s edge, holding his wet wings aloft to dry them in the early morning rays.

There were even a few swimmers and I yearned to be one of them.

As we drove home along Glebe Road in Hamilton South, another rainbow appeared ahead of us.

Now, I’m not the most fanciful of souls in my late 50s, but if Glebe Road were to continue in a straight line through Adamstown and New Lambton and over the hill past the John Hunter Hospital, it would take you right to the doorstep of my father’s nursing home.

We wondered again if it was a sign.

Dad’s breathing was different when I arrived at his bedside, alternating between shallow and a little laboured.

But he had fought so hard for so long, I decided the end wasn’t near.

I was wrong and passed away five hours later.

There’s a poem about a rainbow bridge, where owners and their pets are reunited in the afterlife.

It begins like this … Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

According to the poem, pets play beside the Rainbow Bridge while they wait for their special person to join them. One day they see their owner approaching in the distance and they race through the meadow to greet them. Then they cross the bridge together, never to be parted again.

I like to think the rainbow we saw last week was a bridge that united my dad with his beloved dog Casper.

Maybe I am a little fanciful after all.

Song of the day: The Wizard of Oz “Somewhere over the rainbow”