National Adult Literacy Database

February 2, 2009

This week, we have a story written by the late Gordon McIlwraith, from Nanaimo, BC. Gordon was born in 1952 in Glasgow, Scotland and came to Canada when he was five. He worked at many occupations but was excited about communicating with others and this led him to want to go back to school. His writing was progressing rapidly, allowing him to touch the lives of others and share his passion for living. Gordon enrolled in an English course at Malaspina University-College to pursue this passion. He had a brief battle with liver cancer and died on Sept 30, 2008. He had four sons and he was proud of them. Gordon was inspiring in his pursuit of learning and passionate about writing. He even worked with his tutor at the hospital when he was first ill. He is sadly missed.

James Remembers

by Gord McIlwraith

James was born in 1988 at Grace Hospital. It's time - Hiro and I are headed down the hall to the delivery room joking and teasing as we head to the room. The doctor asks if we were always like this, Hiro says that this was how we got here. It was exciting and beautiful, then he was here. The Doctor asked me to cut the cord and I did and then held him. The sense of wholeness, of fatherhood was euphoric - there was a strong presence of love -.

Move time ahead two years to the day. It is the morning of his birthday and he was opening presents. I start to tell him about his birth. I tell him, "You won't remember" but that is as far as I got because he jumped in saying he did remember. He had such conviction. I asked him what do you remember? He reflected on the room, then he talked about me holding him. He grabbed my chin with his thumb and finger, putting his first finger under my chin. At two, when he did this, I went right back to that heavenly place, the birth of my son. It was like being showered in love. When I tell him this, he grabs my chin the same way. I am experiencing the time of his birth again. He was conscious at two, but lost the memory by four. He was born conscious, so I wonder when it started?

[This story was taken with permission from In Our Own Words, September 2008, published by Literacy Nanaimo.]