Finding Happiness

It is good to be able to find happiness in situations whenever you can. Sad things happen often, and if we're not careful, we can get ground down by it.

Today, for instance was - or could have been - a sad day. Today my father Murray West, harness racing trainer, had his funeral. I had decided to think of this as a happy occasion, celebrating his life.

My father had lived a good life, for the most part. He was a good father and a good horse trainer. Most people who've been involved in the South Australian Harness Racing industry would know, or know of my father. He'd trained many good horses.

The latter part of his life was washed with sadness, that began with the death of my oldest brother, Jeff, in 1993. Jeff had driven Dad's horses and the two of them were a formidable combination. I feel that Dad's interest in living lessened after Jeff's death.

Life continued on though. Dad kept training horses, producing winners still, but his heart wasn't really in it. Then Dad's mental health began to wane, and he became more forgetful. Dementia set in.

This continued until Dad had to go and live in a nursing care because it was too hard for my mother to keep looking after him. This went on for over three years, until his health was very bad. He died just over a week ago.

Because I had decided to celebrate Dad's life, I thought about what I would like to read at his funeral service. I had one poem I had written about my dad, but when I re-read it a few days ago, it didn't seem suitable.

So, a couple of days ago, I thought about what I wanted to say, and I wrote a sonnet. It talked about wanting to keep happy memories of my father, as well as touching on the dementia that stole my father from me.

Several people spoke to me after the funeral, saying how much they liked my poem for Dad. This made me happy - Dad liked rhyming poetry and I was happy to be writing a rhyming poem just for Dad.

So, this was my way of finding happiness on this sad day. I'm still feeling sad about Dad, but I'm happy I was able to celebrate the life of a good man.