The family of Wood

I feel very fortunate that I have had so much opportunity to explore with my family the mysteriers of our lives and how we came to be. My father's sister has been an incredible source of family history and I have spent hours with her going over the events of the past, reflecting on how that may have impacted the present.
We often wonder what motivated Eddy to embrace the life of a farmer at such a young age. There are professions that normally are passed through family, farming being one of the most obvious due to the acquisition of land. My Aunt told me that Eddy had always believed he would return to Canada and become a farmer. There was no indication that his grandparents still living in Montreal would provide him this opportunity until he was already in Agriculture school.  He cultivated this dream with no land and no means to travel back to Canada.  He did not have the support of his family in Switzerland who did not want to lose a family member.  His Uncle Mico, who was a major figure in my father's life, strongly opposed his departure.  He wanted my father to complete his studies which would have included a few years in addition to his Agriculture diploma, in order to become a veterinarian.  Uncle Mico believed that the studies would of provided my father additional security for his future.
It is often the small details of life that bring us the most understanding. One day my Aunt was telling me about my father as a young boy and how he would seek out farms to work on, returning home with clothes that smelt of the farmyard.  Eddy was not allowed into the house smelling like the farm, and was forced to strip down on the doorstep.  My Aunt marvelled that Eddy was the only one in the family that embraced working on a farm and becoming so "dirty". Nobody that we know of in the family history had been farmers. She continued her narration describing an incident that happened when they were small children on their way to school.  The bushes along the path to the school had been trimmed and the branches were left on the ground, soon to be gathered up by the gardeners.  My father flung himself on the trimmings, sobbing for the loss of their life.  It was truly an intense love for nature that he must of been born with.

 Michele and Eddy on their way to school, Geneva.

It was early morning when the bushes were trimmed,

the branches left on the road to be swept up later.

The tightly closed leaves breaking their promise to open.

This you could not bear.

All that life closely bound to the invisible cycle that holds all of us,

the gorgeous fresh green already fading into death.

This is your home, where you stand, and then threw yourself,

sobbing on the broken wood.

Grief for what was lost, as if each bud was a family, friend.

Your heart broke open that day and all of nature entered in.