I am having to say farewell to a close friend once again. In April it was a friend in Hawai'i and now it is a friend in Horsens, Denmark who is dying.
Anna was a friend of my families when we lived in Germany from 1965 - 1968. She was my mothers weaving instructor. After my mothers death in 2013 I wrote a letter to her old address. The woman who lived there got it to Anna and we have been in touch. I now know her whole family and it has been an incredible loving experience.
Today I received word that she is at last on hospice and beginning that final journey we all undertake. I write now not only to pay homage to a shared past but also as a way to chart the course of my own grief and sadness and yes . . . even happiness from whatever time we shared together. After all, it was such a brief moment in our lives she was my brothers and mine babysitter. For years our mother stayed in touch and then . . . it was me.
Vic and I visited in April 2023. Anna took me back to the small town and shop that we knew so well and figured so prominently in our 'small kid time' memory. Days of riding on the back of scooters to go get ice cream and pastries, summer laden days of blue skies, blowing hair, green countryside and beautiful people. Thoughts of war, deprivation, sabotage and nuclear weapons had no place in my head at such a young age. For my brother and I those truly were the days of innocence.
So esophageal cancer takes its toll. We will know soon whether I can go one last time.
