Ahhh……my back
does not hate me as much today. I will
be quite overdue for a visit to the torture chamber known as Alpha Chiropractic
when I get home next year. Ha ha, sounds
funny to say that. I am still trying to
figure out where 2009 went and it’s almost 2010.
Today is a sad
day as we will have another funeral service for Mom and Dad G. The happy aspect of today is that they have
been brought back to the place they called home for many years before moving to
the United States. They are being buried
in the same plot as Ed’s Oma (Grandmother) and a nice plaque has been made for
them as well.
We headed Oom (uncle) Kono’s house to visit before the service. We were sitting around talking when Carrie asked if we had Oma here. Bill had Dad G’s urn and everyone kind of looked at each other and Andy thought Marsha had it and Marsha thought Andy had it and Ed just looked at everyone and didn’t say anything. So, after checking the car, Oma was left at home. Geoff, Renee, and Ewald headed back to Elburg to get the urn with Mom G’s ashes so that we could head to the cemetery.
Seriously, can anything else happen on this trip? You might as well call us the Griswold’s at this point.
We had the service and it turned out very nice. Theresa and Wendy sang as well as Oom Kono. Everyone brought roses to put at the gravesite. Once everyone left, Geoff filled up the hole with the rest of the dirt and we spent a few minutes there alone with Mom and Dad G. This cemetery is like no other in that there are trees everywhere and people plant different things around the grave sites to make them look nice. It’s a very beautiful place and we are happy with the decision to bring them home where most of the family reside.
Some family history for you regarding the name since you will notice that Ed's Oma's name is spelled differently than ours. When Frans (Ed's Dad) was born, his last name, Geeraths, was misspelled on his birth certificate. For some reason, his parents never had it corrected, so our name is spelled differently than anyone else's. Andy claims that the "a" stands for America. Anyway, that explains the difference in spelling. The dates on the plaque for Mom and Dad G. are arranged differently as that is how it is done in Holland. The day is listed first, then the month, and finally the year.
After the
service, we all went back to Oom Kono’s house to have more food and visit. Both sides of the family were there: the Geeraths/Gaeraths and the Stooks. It was fun to see Ed and his siblings
visiting with family that they had not seen in a very long time, or at
all. We spent more time visiting and
eating (of course) and then we headed back home.
Now, I am just
catching up on the blog and getting ready to head to Amsterdam tomorrow. It’s been a long and exhausting day.
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