Starting 2013 by Remembering
by Ben
01.01.2013 - 01.01.2013
10 °C
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Koning/Zemliak Family Europe 2012/2013
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As you read a week ago, Muriel's Dad passed away suddenly on the evening of December 23rd. As you may recall only Muriel made it home and the rest of us stayed in Europe due to logistics. Yesterday, December 31st, was the funeral. Since we are nine hours ahead these events occurred late in our day and I decided to preserve the 31st in Europe for observing Abby's Birthday and marking the change of years. We would mark Dad's funeral in our own way on January 1st.
This morning I talked to Muriel who was just ending her long day and the events surrounding putting Dad to rest. It was good to talk to her although it felt very strange to be apart at a time such as this. I found that during our sleep Marianne had sent me a link to 80 pictures and some video footage from the funeral. These pictures really helped us feel part of remembering Dad. We spent a long time looking through the pictures. We then read the wonderful eulogy Muriel had written. It was really good to hear the words. Hannah had also written something for the funeral and our friend Marianne had read it on Hannah's behalf. Calvin had made a video clip of this and Hannah said she wanted us to hear her words in the same way everyone else had--through Marianne's voice. It was a wonderful love letter about her Grandpa--it is a piece of writing that I will always admire her for.
We spent some more time looking at old photographs of Grandpa that I happen to have stored on my computer and then just shared memories about him, especially his quirks of taking everything to an extreme.
It is a cold, gray and rainy day today and we are going to stay indoors. The weather news is that the sun will return in all its splendor tomorrow. It all seems quite appropriate--tomorrow is a new day and a new beginning.
Posted by KZFamily 08:06 Archived in France Tagged new_year cavaillon grandpa
Thanks for posting such wonderful, insightful and heartfelt entries. We appreciate reading about your adventure, and about your hearts.
We were blessed by the service yesterday and are glad to hear that you could see photos and videos so that you can have a sense of the day. Our thoughts and prayers continue for you and the girls far away and Muriel as she takes care of family over here.
by KathyHarv