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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

"Auf Wiederschauen"...

is the answer that I got when I searched for how to say goodbye in Austria & these are the words that I am using in this post for someone whom we had to say goodbye to today...


Fr. David, our priest.

He was a generous, sweet, gentle man & a great priest.
From the moment I first became a member of our parish, he had always made me feel welcome & as if I had always been a member of the parish.
He was relatable-he let us know his shortcomings, which in return helped us to better understand our own.
He was unique for a priest in the fact that he too was an adoptive parent (to a son via foster care who is now Scott's age) which gave him insight into the world of parenting & left him with some great stories to tell.
By the way, have I mentioned that he was also a great storyteller/writer & one VERY proud grandpa :)
He was an awesome example of carrying one's burdens without complaint-he had the terrible duo of Parkinson's & cancer, but he very rarely complained about either.
He loved music & no matter how awful our parish sang-he always held out hope that he could make us better :)
And as you can probably guess, he was well-loved by his family, friends & parishioners & he will be greatly missed!

He also liked to travel & especially liked Austria where he was hoping to be able to visit again one more time...
So after the funeral, I came home & played the piano for a little bit (maybe he heard it :) & I searched the internet for how to say goodbye in Austria & the answer I was given is written in the title of this post, but what I failed to mention is that the actual definition I got for these words was...


"until we see each other again" & once I saw that-I knew it fit perfectly!


So, Fr. David, "Auf Wiederschauen" :)

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