Mom

last picture

obituary

A week before she died my mother [and her second husband, Emil] returned to Germany to visit with her mother - Omi Marga - (almost 93) and her brother - Daniel (54).

From left: Mom, Daniel, Omi Marga, and Emil

Mom and I talked about the trip. She wanted to go, even though she felt very weak. She wanted to see Omi Marga and Daniel. In a short word that Mom never used (with me) it was "closure" all around. It had been a few years since she'd seen Daniel, and there was never enough time spent with Omi Marga.

"Please take some photos with Omi Marga and Daniel", I requested of her, after she'd returned from seeing her doctor, a few days before her flight. She was ambivalent, not feeling particularly photogenic, and so that was that.

About a week after she died Daniel sent me a half-dozen pictures taken on Omi Marga's balcony in Münster. So much better to be able to see everyone, and to realize that for ten days just at the end of her life she was back in her land of birth, speaking the language she loved the most.