Thank you/Archive

I wanted to say 'thank you' to everyone for your love, support, food, thoughtfulness, flowers, donations to SAVE, cards, emails, phone calls and kind words.

Thank you also to those who were able to make it to the memorial service; it meant a lot to me to see you there! Several people asked for a copy of the letter my dad wrote to me, that he read aloud at the end of the service. I am posting it here with his permission:

Dear Susanne,

Life cannot be summed by a few facts and circumstances. Life is not clich. And if life is to be understood that understanding can only be in relation to everything else in life. If you like where you stand, then every track you made to get there is necessary and important. Christopher has given you much love and happiness. He has given you much personal growth and maturity. He has allowed you to see the world in much broader terms. His memory should be forever special to you.

For my part, I do not dwell on what is, what was, or what should have been. Christopher came to me as a son. He respected me as a son would his father. I loved him as a father does his son. Sure, there were times he disappointed me as a son will his father. But, for the most part disappointment is the fault of the father. Now that he has passed from my life I grieve him as a father grieves a son.

Christopher had a way of looking at things in a unique way. I like to think that this is something we had in common. He could look at things and take an artistic ownership of them, things which owners merely own. He was not afraid to act out feelings which the rest of us could entertain only in dreams.

To know Christopher is to know that only what is human can be foreign, the rest mixed vegetation in the wind.

I love you,

Dad