And so we were
returning home from our 66th trip to The Netherlands!
It was a LONG trip this time since we did not want to use the much cheaper,
all included flight + cruise from Viking!
Having your Dad, living in The Netherlands and bypassing him would be criminal in my humble opinion.
So here we went, right after having had
a very hectic week with our choir, daily rehearsals for choreography and then 2 x performing on Saturday, May 18, at the local theatre.
Here I am, after getting
back from Mass, in-between 2 performances.
Did not wear this to Church though...
My Go-Go boots belonged with the 60s A-line style of dresses.
Found me this at
Neiman Marcus Last Call and JIT = Just In Time. Click the link to read about the
A-line silhouette, which did bring back very fond memories of me going to Fashion Design School...
Haha, half a century ago that is, but see,
such styles DO return!
Go-Go boots came straight form China as I did not want any heels.
If you click the link, it shows them being very high, but not so on my long legs...
This dress can be pulled on over the head so I decided to take it with me to Europe.
Viking was offering this as: RIVER CRUISE AND AIR SAVINGS... Indeed, they offered very cheap flights from Atlanta to Budapest!
But we did NOT want to bypass The Netherlands.
Sure the VIKING INCLUSIVE VALUE was super!
Ground transfers with Viking Air purchase...
If air is not purchased from Viking, transfers may be purchased separately.
We ran into lots of bottle necks but with some back and forth writing it worked out.
BUT... 'After many long discussions with my management team and our operations team, I'm able to have transfers on your sailing at no additional price. All you need to do is provide us with your flight information.' - That was great news and we proceeded with the bookings!
This is U.S. time but it was 9:15 when our flight from New York landed in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and I
got a message from Verizon with welcome to The Netherlands you are connected... We had not even arrived yet at the terminal!
Still had to get off the plane, through customs and collecting our suitcases.
So I sent my youngest brother Jan a location snapshot...
And
again after arriving at Dad's place shortly after noon, when I drove the approx. 2 hours south.
Happy for being able to surprise my 98 year old Dad with a visit!
And several visits that is,
he was SO HAPPY, never have seen him 'show' it the way he did this time.
And so talkative... we stayed some 2.5 hours after we had landed in Amsterdam and I'd driven straight to Dad's place for a visit.
The above photo is from June 2, the Sunday before we would be flying to Budapest next day, to start our Viking cruise adventure together.
Dad always had drilled us while picking tomatoes or gherkins about what is the capital of Romania/Bulgaria/Hungary etc. He himself loved Geography and so did I.
Little did I know then, that I would get to see quite a number of those capitals...
But we both had never been to Eastern Europe outside of Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
I'd given Dad my booklet from Viking, so he could study it and read all about it.
He would know day by day where we were and what we would be visiting.
His question was
IF we would come back...
Well, as we both wanted to surprise him on Father's Day for being once again at his place with my siblings, we did not openly tell him we'd be back.
WISH I had...
After returning from Bucharest when Pieter was so sick and I too was weak, we rested a few days and there comes the message that Dad had been taken by ambulance to the hospital, serious heart problems.
So instead of visiting him at home, we ended up visiting him at the hospital.
He was SO Happy again and said: 'So yet you are here!'...
We did bring him the remainder of the dark German Lindt chocolate, that we brought back from Bad Münstereifel, where I took Mom and Dad and they always LOVED being there.
On Saturday, May 25 we visited Bad Münstereifel together with our German 'Son' and family.
They had given Pieter a wonderful belated 90th Birthday celebration at their home...
We'd left Dad four of these sticks in the week after that...
Remainder got saved for FATHER'S DAY
Like Dad, I too LOVE dark Chocolate and Lindt has the 70% Cacao... so good!
Even for diabetic type 2, a daily small piece is okay.
So this is what we left on Dad's bedside table at the hospital after saying our FINAL GOODBYE... EMOTIONAL as Dad and we knew we would NEVER SEE HIM AGAIN - ALIVE THAT IS...
Hope he got to enjoy his chocolate and remembered both of us with each bite!
Sad that we had to depart from there, to return my BB & L rental car and next walk the 300 m to the
CitizenM Hotel at Schiphol Airport.
CitizenM is a Netherlands-based hotel chain... click above link.
CitizenM says:
wise travellers carry a small bag a big heart and good sunglasses
~
Convenient for our early departure as we were next to the Departure Hall already.
You sleep in a
HUGE bed and under a light and soft down duvet on down pillows...
Only wish you had the luxury of sleeping in or at least till a more decent hour than 5:30!
It is the most convenient way to spend the night and for my Pieter especially, not having to walk too far is a big PLUS.
CitizenM is located at Jan Plezierweg 2
Pieter was in awe as with our boarding passes in my Wallet on the iPhone, I could self check our suitcases!
They had to be placed on their side, with handle up and then holding the iPhone with boarding pass, in front of scanner. Label got printed and you tied it around the handle and you also received the above Claim Tag! With the weight... mentioned and directing you to Please go to Gate: E20
So there we went, off on our Delta flight to Detroit at 9:20 in the morning...
We did have quite a lay-over in Detroit so we solved that in a nice way.
Since we have the
Platinum Delta SkyMiles credit card, you can buy a day pass for the
Delta Sky Club at $ 29.00. One of its perks! So I got us both a pass and we could relax, Pieter even could nap in an armchair and they provide salads, soups and light snacks with drinks.
Also WiFi available so I could check my mail etc. for the day before traveling on.
At 22:00 I arrived safely home by car, from Savannah, Georgia... that would be 4:00 o'clock next morning for Dutch time! A long day from 5:30 till next day 4:00...
We went straight to bed, left the suitcases in the car till next morning when I woke up around 5:30 again.
Of course, Dad had been released that afternoon... Murphy's Law!
~
But on June 30, I received a WhatsApp message from brother Piet, that Dad had passed away, in his chair, in his garden on a Sunday...
A jogger had spotted him, sitting a bit lopsided in his chair.
So my ESP, or heightened intuition/empathic accuracy proved to have been once more right.
I'd heard it in Dad's voice soon after his 98th Birthday, somehow he'd lost his spark for life...
Also when he told me that after his bad cold, my sister Diny had cancelled his membership as an elderly choir member of Levensvreugd (Joy of Life)...
Dad has reached a unique 70th and last year even a more unique 80th Anniversary for being a Choir Singer.
He got two Royal Awards in The Netherlands for that!
Sure enough, when no longer being with his tiny circle of friends,
his joy for life was kind of snuffed out, like a candle...
Especially dramatic changes for elderly, do have a huge impact on their overall well being.
On Wednesday, May 15 of 2019, Dad received this big nosegay of fresh flowers from an anonymous person through the soon to be Foundation of
Bleumkes vaan Geluk (Flowers of Happiness)
puts lonely elderly in the sunshine!
Dad proves in this excellent photo that he was pleasantly surprised!
He was scraping off the old paint for obviously wanting to repaint his window...
This was handed to him only 6 days before we arrived by surprise!
Maybe these happenings did inject him with some more life-elixer?
While we were in the Bad Münstereifel, Germany we received this page from best friend Ellie via WhatsApp. Dad rehearsing for his upcoming performance...
And yes, Dad did manage to perform one more time on May 30, on Ascension Day!
Just imagine, at age 98...
Photo courtesy of Hub Vermeeren of Horst aan de Maas
Notice that Dad is reading his typed text
without reading glasses!
Photo courtesy of Hub Vermeeren, also member Fotogroep Horst aan de Maas
Showing where they set up a sheltered podium for eventual rain.
It was
adjacent to the St. Lambertuskerk (Church) in Horst aan de Maas
Dad sang a very old Horster Folk Song and in the context of 800 years Horst he performed several times, also in the studio.
Dad after his performance... photo courtesy of Hub Vermeeren.
On Dad's nose they'd removed a skin cancer and created a nasty scar... Here in the USA they do a far better job!
There is a video on YouTube:
Horster volkslied Piet van den Munckhof, Jan Joosten en Bas Nellen just click it.
My comment is gone...
At the end of May, at the opening of the 800 house on the Kerkstraat in Horst, Piet Van den Munckhof, togeether with Jan Joosten and Bas Nellen, sang the old Horster national anthem. A month later, on June 30, 2019, Piet passed away unexpectedly, at the age of 98.
Dad didn't die unexpectedly... We came extra for him on May 21, our 67t trip to say goodbye to him. You could hear it in his voice and also in what he said when we called him, So we had sensed and estimated that very well.
We were on Ascension Day at a 1st Communion party in Sevenum but regularly visited Dad and he enjoyed it and talked a lot!
After the absolute and very emotional goodbye in the hospital on Father's Day, we drove to Schiphol and after a short night back to the USA with a very satisfied feeling!
