My Opi passed away on Wednesday. He slipped into a coma around midnight on Tuesday, and despite our best efforts to keep him home until the end, we unforunately ran out of options and he had to spend the last 18 hours of his life in hospital. Mum, Ellie and I stayed overnight with him, and we were able to be with him when he went.
But instead of recounting the horrible things that happened in his last few days, I want to use this page to reflect on some good memories- the way I want to remember him.
For as long as I can remember, Omi (my Grandmother) and Opi were always there. When I had tea parties with my teddy bears, when my little brother Matt was born, every pre-school excursion, the trips we went on, and of course all the Birthdays, Easters and Christmases. My biggest memory of Opi on these occasions is that he was always holding a video camera. He taped the Christmas shows I performed with my dolls, me and Matt playing at the beach down the South Coast every year, and a lot of the other things we did.
We always went to Omi and Opi's house on Friday afternoons after school. We'd have afternoon tea, and then swim in the pool if it was warm enough, or play inside if it was cold or raining. One of my most vivid memories is of the park across the street from their house. I remember every Autumn how the leaves on those big trees would turn bright shades of red and yellow before falling, when we would make huge piles of them to jump in. I remember how frighteningly tall the slippery slide seemed when I was 5. I remember the excitement of our trips down into the cellar Opi built, where Omi kept canned food and chips.
I never had to worry if one of my toys broke- Opi could fix anything. Head fell off? No problem. He was a tiler and builder- he added rooms onto our house, redid our bathrooms and also liked gardening. I also remember he had a bright orange car- we never lost that in a car park!!!
He was always a very quiet and serious man, who lived for is family. I remember his and Omi's 40th Wedding Anniversary when he bought her 40 long stemmed red roses. He was lost when she passed away 11 years ago. :( I remember only one time in his life when I saw him really laugh hysterically- that was when Matt decided it would be a good idea to pick a chilli pepper from one of the plants Opa planted- and ate it whole. As Matt ran like mad around the house trying to find anything to ease the pain, Opi just sat there, almost in tears laughing.
As most people familiar with my family would know, Opi went through a lot in the past 3 years, physically and emotionally. He beat the odds so many times the Doctors no longer knew what to predict. He was a fighter right up until the very end. He came to live with us when he was discharged from hospital. I was slightly concerned that the noise of us 4 humans and 7 pets would drive him nuts- but it wasn't an issue. He just took his hearing aid out. :) He especially loved my Cockatiel, Missy, and she loved him too. I'm quite sure she misses him. Last week, he was patting Ruby and telling me how when he was a boy in Germany, he had 15 rabbits. He also said he was "half a vegetarian." Growing up on a farm, he refused to eat meat from any of the animals he had ever kept as pets. I remember many of the funny things he said over the years- things that came out wrong, and things that were just a little too honest. Conversations about everything from men's anatomy to his brutal truthfulness about my cooking. If it tasted bad, he unfortunately told me so. His favourite criticisms being "not brown enough" and "too much cream." Despite that, I loved having him live with us and already miss him so much every time I walk past his empty room.
He was worried we'd forget him, but how could we ever?
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