I miss my kind of grandmother. :(
I just found out that the woman who was like my surrogate grandma over in the Netherlands passed away yesterday. She had been rapidly declining with Alzheimers for the past year, so the end wasn't sudden at all, but still kind of took me by surprise. I miss her. She was an amazing woman, who will be dearly missed.
The History and Memories:
My dad met a Dutch woman at Skandia, the Skandinavian Folk Dance group where he met my mom. She was an au per, and they became very good friends. Her name was Mariel. When she went back home, she and my dad remained in contact. When my dad was hitch hiking around Europe in the Summer of '69 (yes, yes, I know, how cliche ;-) ) he and his buddy ended up in The Haag, and called her. The whole family swooped down on them and picked them up, and proceeded to basically adopt them as surrogate children. I don't think Bill(my dad's friend) kept in touch, but my dad did. Mariel was the 2nd oldest, there were 5 kids total. Fred and Ineke were the parents. Fred was a Colonel and pilot in what's kind of the Dutch airforce, I can't remember the name. He was a very short, very brusque man, who scared me as a child, but who I grew to love very much the older I got. He passed away a while ago, I don't remember when.
Whenever we would go to Europe as a family, we would almost always fly in and out of the Netherlands, stay with them in The Haag, and drive up to Denmark to visit mom's family. So we saw them about every 4 or 5 years. Several of the kids raise horses and Golden Retrievers, so visiting them was very much like visiting a madhouse. But it was a delightful madhouse. Ineke used to make us chocolate pancakes in the morning, and introduced our family to Indonesian food (which i didn't like as a kid, but like some of it now), and peanut butter and chocolate sprinkle sandwiches. I have so many memories of their 3 story home in The Haag, (we always stayed on the top floor, a big huge hike up 3 flights of very steep and winding stairs to get to, it was like our own tower) of driving around Europe with them in our camper, staying at camp grounds, of traveling to Belgium with them for their 50th anniversary celebration, of their dog Nosy, of walking in the Sand Dunes...they are such a wonderful family, and Fred and Ineke especially adopted all of us into their family...my mom and dad as their kids, and us as their grand kids. We felt like a part of the tribe. They were our European family-that's-not-blood-family. They still are, although now the Grand Matriarch is gone. We lost Mariel as well, when I was in high school, there was an accident when she was riding her horse and she was killed. That was so very sad to lose her, but we still came back to visit. We still miss Mariel. We'll continue to miss her, and now will miss Ineke as well. I hope to get back to visit the rest of the family there, I miss them too. I was able to bring Mike there on our honeymoon, so he got to meet Ineke, and about 1/2 of the rest of the family. I will never forget them, they all have a special and dear place in my heart.
The History and Memories:
My dad met a Dutch woman at Skandia, the Skandinavian Folk Dance group where he met my mom. She was an au per, and they became very good friends. Her name was Mariel. When she went back home, she and my dad remained in contact. When my dad was hitch hiking around Europe in the Summer of '69 (yes, yes, I know, how cliche ;-) ) he and his buddy ended up in The Haag, and called her. The whole family swooped down on them and picked them up, and proceeded to basically adopt them as surrogate children. I don't think Bill(my dad's friend) kept in touch, but my dad did. Mariel was the 2nd oldest, there were 5 kids total. Fred and Ineke were the parents. Fred was a Colonel and pilot in what's kind of the Dutch airforce, I can't remember the name. He was a very short, very brusque man, who scared me as a child, but who I grew to love very much the older I got. He passed away a while ago, I don't remember when.
Whenever we would go to Europe as a family, we would almost always fly in and out of the Netherlands, stay with them in The Haag, and drive up to Denmark to visit mom's family. So we saw them about every 4 or 5 years. Several of the kids raise horses and Golden Retrievers, so visiting them was very much like visiting a madhouse. But it was a delightful madhouse. Ineke used to make us chocolate pancakes in the morning, and introduced our family to Indonesian food (which i didn't like as a kid, but like some of it now), and peanut butter and chocolate sprinkle sandwiches. I have so many memories of their 3 story home in The Haag, (we always stayed on the top floor, a big huge hike up 3 flights of very steep and winding stairs to get to, it was like our own tower) of driving around Europe with them in our camper, staying at camp grounds, of traveling to Belgium with them for their 50th anniversary celebration, of their dog Nosy, of walking in the Sand Dunes...they are such a wonderful family, and Fred and Ineke especially adopted all of us into their family...my mom and dad as their kids, and us as their grand kids. We felt like a part of the tribe. They were our European family-that's-not-blood-family. They still are, although now the Grand Matriarch is gone. We lost Mariel as well, when I was in high school, there was an accident when she was riding her horse and she was killed. That was so very sad to lose her, but we still came back to visit. We still miss Mariel. We'll continue to miss her, and now will miss Ineke as well. I hope to get back to visit the rest of the family there, I miss them too. I was able to bring Mike there on our honeymoon, so he got to meet Ineke, and about 1/2 of the rest of the family. I will never forget them, they all have a special and dear place in my heart.