Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Adustment, suits and healing

A time for rainbows.  The sun shines on the day of Heidi's funeral. We say goodbye to her with dignity and cheerfulness.  We want the service to reflect her sense of fun and enjoyment of life as portrayed in her pictures,  and we seem to have succeeded.  People come back to the house where her paintings are sympathetically  lit by the winter sun. In the curious way the mind works I keep finding myself wanting to tell her all about the service and to compare notes. It will take time to adjust.

"I like your suit says my 20 year old grand-daughter". I realise that she had never seen me in a suit.  "I used wear one every day," I say,"when I went to the office."  It is 21 years since I stopped attending an office on a regular basis. Next I find myself explaining what an office is. Times they are a-changing.

Whose is that familiar face which I see outside the chapel while waiting to enter? It dawns on me that it is our GP, Nick Benson, who retired  a year so so ago. "I saw the notice in the paper," he says. "So I thought I'd come."  He looked after  Heidi and me for  several decades  so I suppose I should not be surprised. We always got on well  but  we sometimes  wondered about  the  extent of his dedication to the world of healing.

4 comments:

marja-leena said...

Joe, I am very touched by your words about this day, happy to hear it had much joy within the sadness. Heidi must be very pleased. You have a lovely family and many friends. Best to you from Vancouver.

Lucy said...

The best get rainbows when they go.

Funny, and very normal, that wanting to tell them about it. You could do so anyway.



Rouchswalwe said...

A wonderous rainbow and the sun knew exactly where to add highlights.

Roderick Robinson said...

Lucy's right. You could discuss it, doing your best to include the oddities as well as the big moments. The loos conveniently close to the exit door from the chapel. The old (us for instance) appreciate that humane detail.