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In November, Jan's stepmum passed away. Although she was old, it was still unexpected. We had a lot of interaction with her during the last 6 months of our father's life, when his brain tumor had been diagnosed. During this period, Jan would stay over from Friday to Monday most weekends and had by far the easiest relationship with her. Since living in Australia, he would pay her a visit on each trip to the Netherlands, which she highly appreciated and told other family members about. The last time Jan met her was early October. Jan took the difficult decision to head back to Europe so soon after leaving it, in some part due to this also being a closure for his dad's life. He could take some time off work for bereavement leave and work the rest of the time remotely on this 11 day trip (of which 9 days spent in the Netherlands).
Funeral
Jan and Annigje briefly visited their
dad's grave on the way to the funeral. As none of his children live close by (by Dutch standards), weeds had gotten out of hand, which Jan tidied up
afterwards, the first time he tended to the grave in 20 years. As children we knew of Sytske's wish to be buried on a different location, although this came as a surprise to some in Jan's extended family. The
natural cemetry was beautifully located (they are by definition) and our step siblings had put together a beautiful service, in which her travelling with Jan's dad was extensively highlighted. She had been fond of travelling and managed many trips together with my dad, right until he was diagnosed with his brain tumor. Jan's sisters attended, as did 5 of his dad's siblings, and 5 other cousins and uncles, making it a small family reunion.
Walks
One of the reasons to attend the funeral was the opportunity to again spend some time with oma Bep, who was delighted to see Jan so soon after his previous trip. He only spent three and a half weeks in Sydney before returning, barely enough to catch up with work (or his activities as a
scout leader). Jan and Bep did
many walks again, while they were
surprised by
early winter snow, which did not stay (otherwise, we would have called grandchildren to come over from Amsterdam). Jan stayed the full week after the funeral and dropped his sister's car off in Amsterdam. Jan liked driving this Mondeo, as this was his last/only car in Europe (sold to the wreckers in the Netherlands after a long holiday before heading off to Australia) and also his dad's last car. Jan had dinner with his brother near the airport and headed back for the long flight to Sydney, arriving early Monday morning.
Updated 1st January 2025
