Grief

Helsinki, -7 degrees

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Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.

Today, exactly seven days from the moment when I got the dreaded news, I find myself writing about the grief I've encountered. One week ago I found out that my beloved dad had passed away at the age of 64. He would have turned 65 next Saturday. I guess it's an age when death shouldn't come as any surprise to anybody, at least if a person is suffering from health problems, but it sure got the best of me this time. I simply wasn't prepared for this in any way. Terribly enough, he had just met my boyfriend for the first time in the end of last year. Now it all feels like it had a meaning, even though it feels impossible to understand the meaning with all of this. I feel like somebody pushed the pause button on the recording called my life and right now I'm standing still even though I can see that the rest of the world is circulating around me like usual.

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I hope that I one day can become as interesting as a person as my father was. He was like the best men are; a great storyteller and true adventurer. He was one of the few persons who mastered both the sea and the sky, and I shall hereafter think of my father every time I see either one of them. He loved the sea and used to drive me and my sister crazy sometimes as children as he always wanted to take us on boat trips with his boats, which he swapped quite often. Now, I would do anything to go on one of those boat trips with him. He also had a pilot's licence and I feel lucky to have had an aviator as my father.


He was a lawyer by profession, but in my mind his real profession was being an adventurer. He travelled around the world twice on world tours and often showed us items he had collected from these travels. He also traveled a lot with my mother. It seemed like no language was difficult enough for him not to at least understand, if not speak, and in my opinion he was a citizen of not merely one nation but of the world as a whole. Some could even say that he had a restless soul. When I think of him, I picture him on the move, constantly on the way somewhere since he never stayed in one place for a long time. He made me understand the beauties of the world and travelling through his stories and I have to thank him for my interest of other cultures and tourism.

He always encouraged me to travel. I remember that he wrote me long letters when I lived abroad despite the fact that he wasn't one to write much, in some degree because of his dyslexia. He also encouraged me at work and came to visit my work place many times. He was happy for me and joyed over my work place since we shared a genuine love for Helsinki.


Sure he did a lot of mistakes in his life, some bigger and worse than what one would want to see anybody do during their lifetime. In that sense he taught me also to be careful and make sure not to make the same mistakes. Our relationship was like a roller coaster, partly due to his errors, partly due to my parents' divorce. The last years of his life though, I did a lot of work to build up a stronger relationship with him since I realized that I could only truly know myself if I knew my father. One of his last teachings was one of the most important in life - forgiveness. I know now in my heart that he knew how important he was for me and that I cherished him so much in my life.

I asked my mother, because she knew my dad for a stunning 50 years, about what she thought was the most important thing he accomplished in his life and she answered that she thinks it was having me and my sister. That reply meant the world to me as he always made me feel so loved as a daughter.

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Needless to say, my father is deeply missed as he will be from this day onwards. I still sometimes have troubles with realizing that all of this is true. Naturally, he was also missed at my sister's wedding last weekend. The ceremony felt for me like something I was observing from the outside even though I tried my best to participate in it in the best way I could.

Once the ashes have descended, I will tell you more about the wedding.

This song (Paradise Oskar: Bridges Out Of Ashes) has helped me a lot during the last week. I like the thought of my daddy being in the sky now looking after me.



"You will lose someone you can’t live without, and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp."
-Anne Lamott

What's your opinion?



  1. Sanattomaksi vetää.. Otan osaa suruusi. En voi kuvitellakaan miltä sinusta nyt tuntuu. Olet upea ja äärettömän vahva ihminen, ja vieläpä kun pystyit kirjoittamaan tästä. Tuo Anne Lamottin lainaus on todella kaunis, niin tosi..

    Satu

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    1. Kiitos ihana kauniista sanoista. Kaikki tuki ja kannustus auttaa tällä hetkellä!

      xxx
      E

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  2. i'm very sorry for your loss, elisabeth.
    stay strong!

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  3. Hi Elisabeth, I am so saddened by this news and I can only imagine how difficult this time must be for you. I wish you and your family all my sympathy and hope you will be able to get through it. Sending you a big hug sweety.

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  4. dear Elisabeth, I'm so sorry to hear all that. I hope you're slightly feeling better.. at least as much as possible in this sad situation. be strong!
    your dad was certainly a special man, as much as I can say after reading that post about him. he will definitely look after you from a better place now.
    ps. I also answered your questions under my post and left you a link there.

    Maiken,
    Maikeni blogi - part of me

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  5. A great post! I've posted a particularly special Venice Carnival! I follow your blog :) You can follow me on:

    http://kate-rose-blair.blogspot.com.es/

    Kiss

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  6. Oh, I'm so sorry to hear this. It sounds like your father was a wonderful, adventurous father and will be missed a lot. I will pray for you and your family, and I'm wishing you the best, and that you make it through this difficult time. At least you have your family by your side, and a new guardian angel who is watching and protecting and loving you.

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    1. Thank you Francesca for your supporting words!

      xxx
      E

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