Today would have been Emma’s 28th birthday. It’s been 59 days since she passed away. We continue to go through slow, slow goodbye rituals, for instance by marking every single one of her many books with her name before giving it away. We hold on to some of her belongings: I’m wearing her scarf, my wife now eats her breakfast using Emma’s cutlery and plates, eating the kind of breakfast that Emma used to eat. We’ve adopted some of Emma’s habits, for instance by supporting the social goals that she supported. We have conversations with her, my wife sings songs to her, I’m saying “Hi Emma” each time I cycle past the crematorium where she was cremated. And we visit places where we feel close to her: tonight, on her 28th birthday, we’ll be going to one of her favorite restaurants and have a bowl of “comfort noodles” like she often did.
Emma’s collection box for the Epilepsy Foundation (EpilepsieNL) continues to receive generous donations, from friends, family, colleagues, and many anonymous donors from around the world. Close to 300 people and organizations have now donated over 17500 euro. Thank you so so much!
Please contribute at https://epilepsie.digicollect.nl/maarten-de-rijke and share the link. Thank you!
Next post:
- Update #7: January 31, 2025
Previous posts:
- Update #5: January 13, 2025
- Update #4: December 24, 2024
- Update #3: December 11, 2024
- Update #2: December 8, 2024
- Update #1: December 6, 2024
- Appeal launched: December 4, 2024