By Peter Christensen

Op-Ed Commentary

A ‘memorial’ was held at a local hall to recognize the passing of one of our ‘old gang.’ I chose not to attend. The uncertainty of my ‘condition’ weighed heavily. It seemed as if attending the event would be a harbinger of things to come. I speculated that if I stayed away, it would keep misfortune at bay. A foolish projection on my part. When it came time to leave, I said to Y that I was tired, would stay home, needed rest.

Here we sit, later in the day, Y describing the gathering and camaraderie of the afternoon. Eloquent words of welcome were spoken by the son of the departed and those attending were invited to enjoy each other’s company and a very fine afternoon luncheon.

Y said a few people asked about me.

I feel uneasy, as if I betrayed those who did attend, but that feeling will pass.  I am stubborn, invent reasons to support my decision. I am a loner, did not want to answer questions about ‘my condition’, did not want to compare myself with others who seem hardy and fit though if the truth were told, most of us, at our age have a ‘condition’ of some kind or another.

Last week we had a visitor from the North Coast, a woman who lived the past 50 years, off grid, on her farm in an isolated cove on an island off the coast from Prince Rupert. She was a ‘back to the lander’ of the seventies; a young American escaping the demonstrations and controversy of foreign wars, looking for a new start.  We lived nearby for 18 years, she and her husband kept us supplied with eggs, friendship and help if needed.

F is 75, has made the journey from Porcher Island, by boat to Rupert, followed by a fast coffee fueled drive to Lake Louise; she has swung down off the Trans-Canada on Highway 95 to Radium to bring us eggs. After her visit will continue to Montana to visit friends and relatives.

After a warm welcome, it is obvious that she is cranked on coffee and fast driving and it takes most of the first day for her to slow down enough that we can have a conversation. Though having lived what most would say is an isolated life, F is articulate, informed and well read, has excellent intuition. She senses that I am not at ease and reluctantly I tell her my story about not attending the recent ‘memorial’. I make my excuses.

She says she has been studying the Stoics; philosophers that were guided by reason and courage; ideas that enable self-control. She believes she says, like the Stoics, “that the way we live our lives does make a difference.” We have this conversation twice in the next 24 hours. It is as if she has come to remind me of first principles.

Other fragments of our conversation are about her multi-generational chickens, fencing and the on-going battle with predators. As an aside, she notes that “chickens look extra good in jars that have just come out of the canner.”

She shows me pictures on her cell phone of the progress made on the new ‘Chicken House.’ Square and true supports hold evenly spaced vertical yellow-cedar foundation posts that support an expansive floor. Yellow-cedar does not rot. She and her husband have hand logged, dragged out with a small gasoline powered winch trees they have felled and from which beams and lumber have been milled to compete the building.

The new ‘Chicken House’ will protect all aspects of the poultry operation: feed room, a chick raising area, egg laying area, a place to wash and store eggs, a room to store miscellaneous equipment needed during different seasons.

“The weasels have been determined to get at the newly hatched chicks. Another couple from down-island was visiting when there was an uproar at the chicken yard. B and I grabbed our loaded shotguns, standing by the door, and rushed out to deal with the predators! The visitors, though country people, were wide-eyed at the immediacy and intensity of our defense.”

Then, coffee mug in hand, she is gone like the wind, heading to Highway 1 and east, leaving me to think about the conclusions of Stoics and the necessity of ready defense.

– Peter Christensen is a Columbia Valley based writer and poet.

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