The Thompson Family

My best friend Melinda's husband Jeff Breiholz unexpectedly died in his sleep last night; he was only 43 years old.

He leaves behind his wife Melinda, their two beautiful daughters, Claire and Camille, his parents, Buck Breiholz and Anne James, his brother Brad, uncles, aunts and cousins, as well as many close friends. Please send your healing prayers and love to Melinda, Claire and Camille, and everyone else experiencing the sadness of this loss. Jeff, you will be missed by many.

Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still.
For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is omnipresent.
In this divine glass they see face to face; and their converse is free, as well as pure.
This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die,
yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present, because immortal.
- William Penn, from More Fruits of Solitude

My great aunt Harriet has passed away after a long life filled with love and family. Her sweet smile and kind nature will be missed.




Here is a poem in her honor...

Come closer, kind, white, long-familiar friend,
Embrace me, fold me to thy broad, soft breast.
Life has grown strange and cold, but thou dost bend
Mild eyes of blessing wooing to my rest.
So often hast thou come, and from my side
So many hast thou lured, I only bide
Thy beck, to follow glad thy steps divine.
Thy world is peopled for me; this world's bare.
Through all these years my couch thou didst prepare.
Thou art supreme Love--kiss me--I am thine!

by Emma Lazarus
From "Emma Lazarus: Selected Poems"

Children's Village had a Dia de los Muertos celebration to honor those loved ones who have passed away (and to celebrate life!). Teacher Patty taught the children a dance they performed to Mariachi. Here are her two videos:





Here is the collage we added to the ofrenda (the altar) of our much missed loved ones:


Christine Hanson, Mike & Mary Raimondi, MaryAnne Smith
Jesse King, Big John, Lenora Lawless
Marla Ruzicka, Bertha Springston, Genevieve King
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

We also added Darrell Davey's note to the ofrenda/altar. For those of you who don't know, this note was found in Darrell's desk after he died when the plane he was piloting crashed into the water near Point Lawrence off of Orcas Island. He was an amazing man and we all miss him.


CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Mother's Day Weekend in SF ~ May 2006

Our dear friend Chris Hanson passed away today after a long battle with cancer, at the young age of 53. She was too vibrant and beautiful, too wonderful and funny, too honest and generous to go -- we will all miss her so.

Last night, I happened across this poem (in the book I just started called "The Time Travelers Wife"), and my thoughts were instantly drawn to Chris... then this morning, she is gone, and sadness is here.

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was yourself.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

—Derek Walcott