A Lake and a Rose

Alright. Well, a lot to catch up on.

This last week was a pretty eventful one. My two friends, Michelle and Angela, came to visit. And for those of you who may not know, my great grandmother passed away on Tuesday.

As far as the time with my friends, I will write more stories later on. This week will be quieter, so I will try to write about what all we did (which was quite a bit). Suffice it to say, Tuesday and Wednesday we saw the sights of Brussels, Thursday and Friday we took a trip to Antwerp (northern Belgium) and Amsterdam (in the Netherlands). Saturday I stayed home while they went to Bruges, and Sunday they left early in the morning.

But what I really want to write is about my great grandmother. She was 100 years old. I should warn you, that you might need a tissue (especially if you’re family); at least I do.

I got the phone call Tuesday night from my mom that she had passed. I had to make the very difficult decision about whether or not to come home for the funeral. After much discussion and heavy thoughts, I decided, with the full support of my family, to stay in Brussels. I will get a copy of the services; my thoughts were that the stress of traveling all the way back to Grandview, especially for such a heart wrenching thing as a funeral would not be at all pleasant or practical. This was not unexpected, and I felt that I had said my goodbye, and kept all my promises. I feel good about my decision, and at the suggestion from my mom, had my own little memorial service yesterday afternoon.

I bought a beautiful dark pink rose from a flower shop on Saturday (my fear was no shop would be open on Sunday, since nothing usually is). Sunday, after my friends had left, Kristoffer and I went down to a very pretty park south of where we live. There is a lake there (much like Greenlake for you Seattlites). I found a beautiful little spot, where a tree was growing on the waters edge. I put the rose there at the base of the tree with a note on it: In Loving Memory of Veva Whitney; Born December 23, 1907; Died March 25, 2008; Rest in peace knowing you are loved and remembered.

I read a letter aloud at the tree that I had written to my great grandma. I might post it sometime, but it’s a little too painful for me to look at right now. Afterwards, we sat on a park bench for a while to just let me cry. It was a nice afternoon, if a little cloudy. That night we had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant, to celebrate her life.

That’s all I can manage to write for now.

I love you Great Grandma. I’ll miss you.