On the morning of October 27^th, 1996, my father decided to hang two bird feeders and a bird bath on the wall of the balcony at my parent’s new apartment building.

I had just talked to him the day before on the phone from Cabo San Lucas.  It was to be my final season as a Senior Destination Representative for Sunquests Vacations.  Ten years and so many amazing memories, some good and some downright scary.  I had taken a sabbatical for 8 months prior to being deployed to Cabo but my boss Trudy talked me into doing one last stint.   My Dad didn’t want me to go.  At first this surprised me because he and my Mum always looked forward to travelling south every year. They would come and stay with me in each of my destinations for months at time.  He was concerned that I had accepted the contract for the wrong reasons.  During that 8 month leave I’d taken a job managing a Spa in Hazelton Lanes in Yorkville Toronto.  After about a few months into it, the owner started bouncing my paycheques. This became a regular occurrence and not to say a tad annoying.  This upset my father to no end!  I was without a doubt Daddy’s little girl and he was, of course, my most fierce protector!  I finally gave up that job but not before my Dad made a few calls to this man in the middle of the night to really give him a piece of his mind!  My Dad didn’t want me going back to Mexico thinking that I might feel like I couldn’t make it work here in Canada.  He knew me well, I felt out of touch and disconnected.  Living in Mexico and the DR, both considered third world countries for that long made me feel somewhat misplaced back in Toronto.  I assured him that this was just a quick way to build back my nest egg (you save quite a bit of money when you live in a third world country) and I had really taken a hit thanks to the slime ball boss!

When I called him the day before, it was to update him on the issues and problems I was having in Cabo.  If there was a problem in a destination I was the one that got sent out!  My mission was to help  Sunquest secure a better relationship with Hoteliers in both San Juan and Cabo in hopes to establish exclusivity in a rising and very competitive market.  He and I would role play and we’d have an absolute hilarious time doing it – and he always gave the best advice!  When we’d finally get serious he would say “Sherry try to change the thought that creates the feeling” It was totally Zen and he was centred by it and he always had this astonishing way of getting into my head!  After helping me with my problems he informed me that he was really missing his backyard bird sanctuary from our old house and that he was going to try to recreate it on the balcony of their new apartment. The next day he got out his tools and set about to complete the task of hanging his bird feeders.  The neighbour next to him told him to be careful because the wind was really picking up and a short while after that he lost his balance and fell forward.  It’s very difficult for me to put into words the range of emotions I felt after my father’s accident.  I thought that life could not get worse but that thought was put to the challenge 6 years later and the paradox of his senseless death and her deliberate act was incomprehensible.