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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, January 1, 2015 | 6 Family hits the road in memory of loving husband, father by Abigail Cukier Special to the Beaver Spotlight "Connected to your Community" Through the windows of their Winnebago RV , the Freemans might have looked like any other family on summer vacation. But this was a different kind of journey. This 16,000-kilometre trip was to help them heal and re ect on the life of their husband and father, Geoff Freeman, who had died just a few weeks earlier. Most of all, it was their way to continue Geoff's Make Each Day Count philosophy. Near the end of 2013, Geoff started to feel like he was "living in a haze." He would forget dates and names and had trouble with math and telling time. The family thought it was a worsening of the multiple sclerosis he'd had for 17 years. But an MRI and a biopsy showed that Geoff had an aggressive brain tumour. He died on July 8, 2014 at Ian Anderson House hospice in Oakville. But Geoff's illness and death are far from the whole story. It is his way of living that his family wants to share. "My single most favourite thing about my dad is that he knew life and knew how to live it. And the formula for that includes having a sense of humour, not sweating the small stuff and doing things that make you feel alive," says Geoff's daughter Britney Ouellet. A fanatical and talented sailor, Geoff could nd the fun in any situation and make anyone laugh. He nurtured friendships with people from all walks of life and was always there to help his family. "Dad cried happy tears every Christmas when he read the personalized cards that Brit and I wrote," said Geoff's son, Michael. "The competition between us wasn't to see if our card would make him cry, but how fast." Michael describes his parents' relationship as "a perfect love." "We met in high school when we were 15 years old," says Geoff's The Freeman family, including Dawn, Michael and Britney, embarked on a 16,000-kilometre, two-month road trip in honour of Geoff, a loving husband and dad with a remarkable joie de vivre. Geoff, who died in July, lived with multiple sclerosis before being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. Below, the trio snaps a photo during their North American travels.| photos courtesy of the Freeman family wife, Dawn. "We knew each other for 40 years and had been married for almost 31 years. Every single year was wonderful." During his illness, Geoff suffered fatigue and hindered cognitive function, but also had days where he was full of energy and his memory returned. In an account for Yahoo! Travel, Michael wrote that the family managed to pack the goodness of many years into a handful of months. This included coffee dates with friends dropping in from near and far. "We got rum-rowdy for several parties at Dad's yacht squadron clubhouse. We watched stock cars roar by for Dad's birthday celebration -- something Mom and he did frequently in their dating years," Michael wrote. The most signi cant was Geoff and Dawn walking Britney down the aisle at her wedding. Her parents also gave a hilarious speech and Geoff and Britney had their of cial dance. "The moment I arrived at the spot where he and my mom were waiting for me before we walked down the aisle together was like nothing I had ever felt before," Britney remembers. "It was beyond love." Friends and family also participated in the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation's Ride to Conquer Cancer, raising more than $2,500. Michael and Geoff rode the 216 kilometres along with them on an adapted tandem bike. Geoff died almost one month after crossing the nish line. He was 55. It was on the steps of Ian Anderson House that Michael and Britney decided they and their mom needed to take a road trip. Dawn agreed. "We took the trip to continue with our healing. To be able to re ect on what an amazing man Geoff was and what an amazing life he had," Dawn said. "The six months with Geoff from diagnosis to death was a journey. We squeezed every ounce of fun and love out of life during that time and now it was time to regroup ­ the three of us ­ to re ect and discuss our new normal and how to prepare for that." In an RV emblazoned with `Make Each Day Count', `Giddy Up' and `In Honour of Geoff Freeman,' the three travelled from July 29 to Sept. 22, covering Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alberta. Around nightly camp res, they shared stories of Geoff. Each day, they read from a book about grieving, as well as letters that friends and family had written about Geoff. They scattered his ashes with whispered dedications at magni cent sites, including Crater Lake National Park at dawn and the rocky panorama of Yellowstone's entrance. "Geoff would not want us to be living any differently. As he would say, `Is there an alternative?' We promised Geoff that we would continue to live with his same energy and spirit," Dawn said. "We took a lot away from the RV trip, all positives and it absolutely has helped with our grieving." And as Michael said, the trip was also a pilot project in how the family will navigate adventures without Geoff. Judging so far, they must be making him proud. Volume 53 | Number 1 447 Speers Road, Oakville ON (905) 845-3824 Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. 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