22 December 2018
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Eric and Essie have a dog!
This is from our first walk.
Category Archives: Family
Bentley, grand puppy
Always smiles
It rolls around again today as it does every year. Anniversaries have a way of doing that.
Some years it almost sneaks up on me and grabs me unaware. As if I could forget. As if I would forget if I could.
Other years, like this year, memories of the day enter my consciousness well in advance. I have to consult the calendar to verify the date.
The pain has lessened some over the years. The empty, heartache remains.
Forty-two years ago today, my father died. A private pilot, he and another administrator were flying to Harrisburg to advocate for funding for the local school system.
Though they had tickets on a commercial airline, they decided that my father would fly. The plane went down near Emlenton, Pennsylvania, the crash site only located the next day. When I arrived at JFK a day later, after a college choir trip to Europe, family members met me and broke the news and shattered my heart.
Because grief lasts, I raise a glass to remember loses and acknowledge pains. And because love never ends, I raise a glass to give thanks and to celebrate love shared past, present, and future. On this anniversary, I raise a glass to William Koenig, to his life, to the time, the far too short time, we shared. To music made well and badly. To tears and a multitude of remembered smiles. For some years there are tears, but always there are smiles.
Goodnight and joy be with you, Dad.
Goodnight and joy be with us all.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Family
Purple, not flowers, parking garage sign
24 December 2017
Ann Arbor, Michigan
While visiting Eric and Essie, Tricia and I went to worship on Christmas Eve morning.
We parked on the purple level.
Eric’s Ordination
On 29 October, 2017 at Noble Road Presbyterian Church,
my son Eric was ordained as a minister of the Word and Sacrament
in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Essie and I were privileged to celebrate communion with him.
Of course I had to talk.
Eric serves as a Resident Minister at the First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor where Essie serves as the Youth Ministries Coordinator.
Thanks to Maria Bernardo for the photo.
Filed under Family, Friends, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Purple, not flowers, gecko
A portrait of the puppy
with his (purple) gecko
26 December 2017
Solon, Ohio
Football fan
24 November 2017
In Goochland for Thanksgiving, Henrik watched
the Virginia – Virginia Tech football game.
Once home
photo – 30 October 2017
arrived September 1985
departed late October 2017
now rented by a friend
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Filed under Cleveland Heights, Family, Photo
Farewell to the Matrix
Transition is the nature of life. For individuals, families, communities, nations, the world, change happens.
Our family is no different. We have passed through many changes through the years.
This year has brought an acceleration of change. Eric graduated from seminary as did his fiancé, Essie. They remained engaged for about five days after their graduation and then, in a wonderful celebration, they became Eric and Essie Koenig-Reinke. And then they moved to Michigan for jobs with First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor.
Tricia received a new job in Louisville with the Office of the General Assembly. I received a new job in New York with the Presbytery of New York City.
Sean and grandpuppy Henrik have been the eye of calm in the midst of all the changes.
This weekend, we have gathered in Cleveland Heights for Eric’s ordination as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). It will take place at Noble Road Presbyterian Church where Eric grew up and where he remains a member, until his ordination.
We all stayed in the house on Navahoe Road that Tricia and I rented in 1985 when we came to Noble Road. Tricia has stayed in the house ever since, which we finally came to own a couple years ago. This may be the last time we all stay together here, although thanks to a dear family friend, Renee Boykin, we will continue to own the house. Renee will rent.
Another marker of this time of transition came when Eric pulled into the driveway on Friday night driving a Toyota Matrix. It had been my car, purchased in 2004, and it is my favorite of all the cars I have owned or co-owned.
Now it has Michigan plates and belongs to Eric. Of course he has been driving it since I first moved to New York in 2010. But the title remained in my name and Tricia and I paid the insurance bill. And it still felt like mine.
No longer. Eric transferred the title a while back, put on the Michigan plates and started paying for the insurance. The Matrix is his.
An era ends. A new one begins.
Farewell, Matrix.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Cleveland Heights, Family, Friends
