A sad day

My cousin’s husband, Michel, passed away yesterday at the age of 61 after a year-long battle with cancer. It feels strange to call him my “cousin’s husband” as he was much more of an uncle to me. Quite frankly my cousin, Andréa, and he played the role of aunt and uncle more than most of my actual aunts and uncles. Not to say that my aunts and uncles aren’t great, but most of my aunts and uncles feel more like grand-parents to me.

You see, my father, who would be 75 this year, was child number 10 of 13 children. Andréa’s father was the oldest, so right there were talking quite a few years difference. Add to that fact that my parents had me later in life (my father was 44) and what you get is a whole bunch of years between my cousins and I. In fact, between the oldest cousin (who is actually a grand-mother now) and myself (the youngest cousin) there is a good 35+ years. All this to say that I’ve always considered Andréa and Michel to be like an aunt and uncle to me… probably the aunt and uncle I’m closest too on my father’s side. As well, I’ve always been close to their three children. Chances are if I’m talking about my “cousin”, I’m referring to one of their three children.

So as my father’s family ages (I think his oldest sibling is now 85 or 90), I’ve lost several aunts and uncles, however, this is the first uncle to pass away that I feel I really knew.

Both true blue Maritimers, Michel and Andréa retired to New Brunswick a few years ago after spending the bulk of their life in Montreal. When I was young, my father and I would drive to Montreal to spend a week in the big city. My father would spend the week with his siblings and would drop me off at Andréa and Michel’s place and I would spend the week there with my three cousins, Marc, Suzanne and Caroline. I loved going to their place! They always had the house that all the neighbourhood kids would go too. I always thought of them as pretty cool parents.

I will miss Michel’s caring nature, wonderful sense of humour and laid back personality. He always made me feel welcome in their home and has always supported my many projects.

In his memory, I’d like to share a few of Michel’s photos – he was an accomplished and passionate photographer.







Michel - December 2006: