MY TRAPPER MOM

Prologue  

Introduction

I was born in 1965, a forgotten soul left at Toronto General Hospital. Or perhaps I was taken, snatched away for profit by the Catholic Children's Aid of Toronto. Back then, it was a lucrative business - legally kidnapping newborns from young mothers. My adoptive mother, Doris, found me in a local newspaper, likely the Toronto Star. She and her then husband, Soren, had recently moved from Denmark and decided to adopt me as a special birthday gift for my stepbrother, Jimmy, who had also been adopted by mom. Jimmy was about three years older than me.

Mom, A Barren Woman

Doris, or "Trapper Mom" as we affectionately called her, was a Danish woman with a heart as big as the wilderness she loved. She couldn't have children of her own medically, so adopting us was her way of building a family. From age of two mentioned in the chapters, she taught me how to survive in the wild, from cooking, sewing, skinning animals to crafting moccasins just to name a tiny few. We'd spend hours together, her knitting needles clicking away, or her singer sewing machine with the foot treadle pumping, baking and cooking you name it. Life was real, hard and fun.

A Harsh Yet Beautiful Life

Our home was a remote hand built, two story, four room log cabin in Northern Ontario, Canada, approximately 33 miles from the nearest town. To reach civilization, we'd have to navigate treacherous rivers by boat or canoe, or in winter, by foot on snow shoes and a team of Husky dogs pulling survival gear in a sled across the frozen surface of the rivers ice. It was a harsh existence, but it was also beautiful. Trapper Mom was a fearless woman, skilled at hunting and fishing and an all round woodlands survivalist. She'd brave the icy waters to help her then husband to provide for our family, her husky dogs always by her side.

Our Secret Burden

Trapper Mom was a woman of immense strength and love. But she carried a secret, a burden she'd taken to her cremation ashes that she had asked for prior to her death. Only a few people in the family knew the truth, a dark and troubling secret that has haunted me for years, before and after her passing.

The Truth Revealed

I hereby dedicate all content and chapters and honor the memory of my dear Trapper Mom, Doris Boyes. She passed away in 1999 from Multiple Sclerosis. I'm grateful to the doctors, nurses of St Johns hospital in Vanderhoof, BC, Canada and also the staff at the Salvation Army in Prince George, BC, Canada for their care during her final years.  They would visit Mom at her bedside as she battled Multiple Sclerosis, a cruel and unforgiving disease that slowly robbed her of her strength.

The Pain Within

I've carried this burden for over four decades, and it's time to release it. May your soul find eternal peace, Doris, My Trapper Mom. Your spirit will forever guide me on this journey, until I too depart from this world. Forever and always, you'll be my best friend and Mommy dearest. I ask God to Bless you with the promise: Luke 23:29 KJV