In the name of my father

1927 - 2021

With you I learned about Love

I learned to love the sanctuary of your profound silence

I loved whispering in your ear words only meant for you

I loved holding hands while watching golf tournaments, on mute

I loved watching you admiring squirrels zoom on the edge of the balcony

I loved seeing you eating mom´s shortbread cookies as if they were chips

With you I learned about patience and focus

Your hands repaired anything that was broken and needed fixing

So many tools, bolts, screws of all sizes, cords carefully categorized

How I loved opening drawers neatly organized, knowing where things were

The sewing box next to you on the couch while you stitched ripped clothes

Gave us all a sense of safety that brokenness could be mended

With you I learned about kindness and generosity

I could always approach you and speak my mind and my heart, fearlessly

You gave us space, Denis and I reading comics, while you read your paper before school

Teaching us to practice the sports you loved with fierce determination

Always open to greet our friends and host them, playing cards and badminton with us

You are the most generous, affectionate, gentlest grandfather to my daughters and the little ones

With you I learned about the power of sheer stubbornness

Your will to be self-sufficient and master the movements of an aging body

Pushing back against the unyielding strain of a slow decline

I am witness to the times you diminished the pain of so many falls

Only to comfort and reassure the ones around you that all was well

Denying the herald of a time when you would leave your wife and family behind

Now rest dear father of mine for your journey has moved on

May your flight be unencumbered, open to the spaciousness of mobility

I imagine you, as you once told me a cherished memory,

You, ecstatically dancing under water in the mists of a squad of stingrays

May the joy to be free from suffering always be with you

You are forever in me, the ones that love you and the ones you loved

Until we meet again

Your loving daughter