Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place vs. home

10 years, to the place where I died

Seems like yesterday: ten years have disappeared in a flash. And yet, a hint of grief is as fresh, now as it was then.

Before dawn, I swear I heard his voice calling out to me. The official pronouncement: 610am, 9 August 2014. Ken Lee, dead at 82. I was afraid I had already forgotten his voice.

Northern summer will always have an air of finality, tainted by memories of frailty and inevitability: entropy at its absolute finest.

One day, I’m on the well-travelled stretch between Mannheim and Cologne, fiddling between an online ticket for an express train and an online (Deutschland-) ticket for the next regional train.

The next day, I’m in a Vancouver cemetery on a late Friday afternoon. I see only two to three other visitors out here. It is almost mid-August. Sun’s out, it’s almost 30C. Somewhere outside of this green patch of stone, metal, and flowers, life thrives and goes on. For me, I’ve come back to get “stuck”; I might as well be 8000 km away, back on the other side of the planet.


Up on the 10th floor is/was the palliative ward where Dad spent his final 2 weeks.
Ocean View Cemetery.
Hey, Mom and Dad: it’s me …

I made the photos above with an iPhone15 on 9 Aug 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

2 Responses to “10 years, to the place where I died”

  1. travelswithvalerie's avatar
    travelswithvalerie

    There is just no age that insulates us from the pain of the departure of our parents, is there? I’m sorry for the ten year milestone of that loss. I feel these things keenly as well.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • HL fotoeins's avatar
      HL fotoeins

      Hi and thanks, Val. I know the pain of loss never really goes away, but what’s incredible to me is the speed by which these ten years have passed. I’m also sorry for your loss.

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