It may be strange to put this in my portfolio, my father’s memorial card, but the man was practical, his work was his passion and he passed that passion on to his three daughters. Even though he never said it out loud, we knew he was super proud of us because we all became entrepreneurs.
Although he sometimes jokingly said to me: “You don’t have a company, you have a hobby!” Still, he wanted to do my taxes every quarter. If I didn’t bring my folder with printouts, because it was done the old-fashioned way of course, on the first or second day of the new quarter, he would start calling. “Mireille, where is your bookkeeping!?” It was his way of supporting and sympathizing.
And then it was suddenly over.
On the second day of the third quarter I was not busy with my VAT tax but with designing his condolence card. Because he would have wanted that so much, my mother said. Suddenly something as simple as designing a card becomes very special. How do you swallow your emotion and make something that would suit him. The many compliments I received later about the card made me feel like I had succeeded.
In addition to the card, I was also asked to write the speech. After writing ten books and many blogs, the speech flowed from my virtual pen. It was the job of the eldest daughter to read it in church, where I was of course very happy. Like my father, I prefer to stay out of the spotlight. While my sister read the story in church, I could not suppress a smile that the story was received with a laugh and a tear.
Als laatste moest er ook een rouwadvertentie in de krant komen. Als mijn vader mee had kunnen kijken, had hij kunnen zien dat de ‘branding’ van A tot Z klopte. De kaart, de advertentie en zelfs in de speech kwam het gedicht weer terug wat ik op de kaart had gezet. Terwijl hij altijd mijn belasting zo perfect deed, kon ik nu eindelijk iets voor hem terug doen. Dit was mijn werk.
Ondank het ontzettende gemis en verdriet, hoop ik dat ik op mijn manier mijn vader op de juiste manier een laatste eer heb kunnen bewijzen.
Ik weet zeker dat hij tandenknarsend en zuchtend over mijn schouder meekijkt als ik straks mijn eigen BTW belasting ga indienen. Rekenen is nooit mijn sterkste kant geweest en dat wist hij maar ik zal het toch moeten gaan proberen.
Het ga je goed, pa! Till we meet again.
