A Tragic Event

By now we are all fully aware of the tragic events surrounding the OceanGate Titan implosion. Below you can see the now familiar image of the Titan submersible used in the dive

(Credit: (Computer model rendering by By Madelgarius – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=133558088)

On June 18th, the vessel began its descent with five passengers on board. The five were descending to view the wreck of the Titanic. For the first ninety minutes of the dive, the Titan was communicating every fifteen minutes with its mother ship Polar Prince on the surface above. At approximately the two hour mark, all communication with the submersible was lost.

From June 18th onwards a search for the vessel began and now we know the terrible ending to the descent. As efforts to recover parts of the Titan from the ocean bottom continue, my heart goes out to the families of those on board.

As we reached Friday the twenty third of June during this week, I was still very much interested in the news of the Titan, but my heart also automatically moved to memories of my mother, for her birthday was on that day, June 23. Like those on the Titan, she also had a connection to the Titanic, for she was born in the same year as that great vessel went down and so many lives were lost in 1912. While I felt moved to write this short post about the Titan, and to perhaps convey my thoughts of compassion to the families, I thought a quick note about my Mum would provide a more serene and peaceful ending to this little blog entry.

My mum, Eunice, was a great woman. She worked hard alongside my dad as he delivered milk to customers on his round. She maintained the round when dad was called up to serve in the army along with other family members. She was a great mum to me, and though we sometimes had our differences, she showed me endless love. She visited us many times with dad, and following his death, she came with some of her friends and neighbours from her street.

Here she is in the green shirt, with Joyce, her neighbour of 50 years, tucking into a dessert on one of her many trips to visit us in Comox.

She loved a drink! This was at her 90th birthday party back in Wales.

Mum would have been 111 on June 23 this year and I’m sure she would still have loved a drink at the pub!

Goodbye for now and God bless.