I love you, dad.

​Our dad walked home gently yesterday at 23:48. I was sitting vigil with him, when he decided to return his body to Mother Earth. For the past two days, my mother, Wolfgang and I took turns sitting with him.  We invited Wolfgang to sit with us, for our dad was like a father to him growing up. One does not need to be a biological father to be a dad.

​Dad was – and is – an incredible human being, artist, philosopher, tobacco aficionado and during the past few weeks we enjoyed many a cup of ice cream together which we openly “smuggled” into the hospital. He preferred banana, lavender lemon and watermelon, but for some reason he never said “No, thank you.” to any other flavor. Or coffee. Hot. Black. Not too sweet.

​He also served as a UN peacekeeper on Cyprus, when he was younger, loved Karl May and the Wild Wild West, was a guitarist with the “Griffner Buam” back in the day and showed my brother Tommy and me, how to build bow and arrow, we also built a tipi one summer and one winter we tried to build an igloo. 

​In other words, he was a fun loving jack-of-all-trades.

My dad and me. Easy Riders.

Being allowed to walk with him, being home and sitting vigil with him was a gift. Some of you may know, that I also work as a shaman, so this is part of what I do. Being allowed to sit with our father was a gift, feeling each other, the subtle changes in the energies and the physical body, and guiding the spirit home into the heart. He went home accompanied and welcomed by late aunt Anni, late uncle Karli and late aunt Rosmarie, better known as the “gang”, as well as other late relatives and friends. 

Let us celebrate his life. He is in our hearts, one again.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the friends, companions and relatives who came to visit, who spent time with him and who smuggled his favorite cheesecake in.

I want to thank the team at LKH Wolfsberg for the kind and gentle way in which you cared for my dad, embraced my mother and your openness to my way of prayer and ceremony. You are awesome.

​I also want to thank Marco Polo Eiscaffé, Konditorei Cafe Eberhard and Hotel, Café & Konditorei Hecher, as well – your ice cream and the cheesecake with strawberries made his day many a time. 

I love you, dad. 

​Kristin