Enlightening Funeral
Dear Friends!
I just came back from a funeral that I attended with my husband Stephan (thanks for being there for me!). This was the funeral of a former client of mine whose name is Christine and I want to tell you about her:
Christine was sitting in a wheelchair since she was 5 years old, because of amyotaxia (a kind of spasticity, that goes in “waves” through the body so that you can’t really control your movements) and could only walk with the help of other people. If she wanted to move by herself, she used to crawl on her bottom. I had been Christine’s physical therapist for several years, before she moved out of her home in Hamburg 5 years ago into her own apartment in the city (she got a job at the zoological institute), where we found a new therapist for her.
In all the years I worked with her, I never saw her in a bad mood, nor did she ever quarrel about her destiny or feel sorry about her life. Her parents helped her wherever it was needed, but most of the time, she wanted to do her things by herself. She was very disciplined, organized and courageous – sometimes she just asked strangers to push her in her wheelchair, when she got tired or overestimated herself a little bit. She rarely thought of herself as number one or about how she was doing; she thought more about how she could make other people happy and give them joy, along with her brilliant smile.
After she moved, we still had contact for quite a while and then only once in a while. Around half a year ago, I met her mother by accident and she told me that Christine was in intensive care in the hospital with a serious case of pneumonia and I promised to visit her within the next days.
On the day we had arranged the visit, they placed Christine into an artificial coma, and her mother asked me to stay home and said she would keep me updated on Christine’s state of health. I counted on that, much to my regret, because after that I got so busy in my life (among other things, with feeling sorry for myself, fighting with life and thinking about how I was doing), that I missed taking action myself and asking how Christine was doing.
A few weeks ago it came back to my mind and I resolved to call the family, which I again procrastinated on, because there were always “more important things” to do.
Last week Christine died at the age of 27 and I think today during the funeral, for the first time I really understood what it means to live in the moment, to take life as it is and live it directly with pleasure, joy and awe – Christine knew all of that and lived it. I’m sooo endlessly thankful to know her and for the great time we had together.
And today I deeply admire her parents for how much gratefulness they had for all the people who had been with Christine during her lifetime.
I want to say to Christine “ Hey – show them up there who you are, like you showed me!” and somehow I have the feeling that after her long illness, not only did Christine finally find her peace, so did I!! THANK YOU, Christine – you will forever have a special place in my heart!!!
And thanks to you all, my friends, that you are there for me and that I can share with you what I learned today.
I wish all of you and your families a wonderful advent season and if there is somebody you are thinking of, or you haven’t seen/spoken to in a while – just call them!
With love deep from my heart,
Yours, Maiken
