Deze post schrijven we samen en dus in het Engels
The birth of a child brings along an explosion of emotions for the new parents. Welcoming a new member of the family is wonderful, beautiful and intimate. This is the start of a new path and even though we experience the happiest moments of our lives, we also feel a strong grief and sadness for those who are no longer with us to share this experience. Becoming a parent, even for the second time, means that we strongly reflect about parenthood, and the relationship we have or had with our own parents. Missing mom and dad, Nino senior & Zet, can be extra hard at times like these. The knowledge that our children will never meet their grandma and grandpa, that their paths will never cross, can be hard to bear. We daydream about how we would have shared the news, what their reaction would have been like, what the expressions on their faces would have looked like. We wonder…
Would they have still lived in The States? Would they have returned to Belgium for their retirement? We fantasize about how Nino senior would run around with Neo in a yard somewhere. How Zet, as loving as she was, would cherish every moment with her grandkids. Again, we wonder.
At times like these we hope there is still something ‘out there’. That Nino&Zet can see us and the kids somehow. But whatever is or is not, we know that we will never cease to keep the memories alive and share every last sparkle of love that Nino and Zet brought into this world with our own offspring.
We miss all great grandparents that are no longer with us.
Deze is geschreven voor ons bomma
As the world around me stopped spinning, and as my thoughts could be with you and only you, my sweat grandma, that is where I found a place in which – among all the horrible pain of seeing you fade away – I felt love and appreciation for having you in my life, every step of the way.
I searched your confirmation in everything I did, every decision I made and every step I took. It must be at least a dozen times a day that I still want to grab my phone and call you, knock on your door and step in, hug you, talk to you. You are still here Bomma, In the things I write, in the things I think, in everything I do. I will never let that go..
Love and pain go hand in hand, and I realized once more that even in all its hardness, life is still amazingly beautiful. We only truly live because we feel, because we love and are loved.
I wish you were here to hold our newborn daughter Léa in your arms and to caress Neo. Once again, you would have been the proudest person in the face of the earth. And I hope that somehow, somewhere, you still are.
