Life is not always about roses, apart from the thorns … John Vanderaart takes a moment for a reflection. You can read his previous column about ‘attracted internet’ here.
Last week we were in ‘our tent’ at ‘our table’ and we were served by ‘Ons Obertje’. Admittedly, that is not large but good for a moment of reflection. After all, the last time we visited this eatery, ‘De Schipper’ was still among the living. When I close my eyes I still see him sitting: “Dutch glory!” But three months later the big K had still caught him unexpectedly.
Gradually I catch myself in more beautiful moments that we have experienced together. The somewhat creative accounting (= because shoe box) for the sailing club; With specially programmed tooling. Rumbling with serial GPS recipients and manually scanned sea charts; He was like death to walk to the ground. Assessing the Breton coastal plates with Google Maps; Like cheap but still luxurious can winter.
Anyway, in that tent at that table that Obertje asked how he was doing. My sad message earned a drink of the house on the memory. And it must have been ai, because the same day Facebook conjured a photo: “Hollands Glorie!”
I know that there is a discussion going on about this kind of posthumous memories. A discussion that I like to keep outside. “No,” I tell my wife, “that was just a dirt in my eye …”
In loving memory and still to be found on Facebook. My old friend, the skipper …