Our Unexpected Adventure's final Chapter.

This will be the final chapter in Our Unexpected Adventure.

There have still been silver linings, and the first came from Craig at Little Treasures.  In the week between Alex going and the Celebration of his Life, Marlene and Margaret accompanied me to brunch at Little Treasures.  As soon as Craig realised the situation, he lit a candle in Alex's memory and I was really touched.

He had come to know Alex after all our visits there, and as the girls and I were leaving, he gave me a book for 'us', and I knew he really had got to know the real Alex when I saw it was "The Ultimate Book of Rude and Politically Incorrect Jokes".

 

We held Alex's Celebration of his Life at Macquarie Chapel on Monday last week, 24th June 2013.  The chapel was full - family, friends from every aspect of Alex's life and everyone Alex deals with in his business all came.  People flew in from Perth, Melbourne and the far north of NSW.

What a tribute.

The service was a heartfelt and simple service.    The image I used on the Order of Service was taken a couple of years ago when we shipped our motorbikes to New Zealand and spent 8 weeks riding around both islands.

The entry song was Supertramp's 'Lover Boy'.  Tributes were given by his mother, his children and then his siblings.  I had produced a 10 minute photographic tribute, and the chapel had two large screens at the front and several smaller ones down each side, so everyone had a good view of any images shown.  I had produced a quick collage to show during the service:

This was a mix of a great shot of Alex taken when we were in Beauvois, France last year with a shot taken when we were on a weekend ride with the Worthington BMW Group - this was the road to Glen Davis in NSW, with Alex's bike in the immediate foreground.

I had produced a photographic tribute for Alex, and one of the final images was taken last year in Amersfoort when we visited Nell.

 The service ended with Queen's 'I Want to Break Free'.

Ik wil graag Alex's uitgebreide familie bedanken in Nederland voor het volgen van deze blog, en vooral voor te zorgen dat elk item werd doorgegeven aan tante Nell. Ik zou ook graag Nell bedanken voor het sturen zo veel brieven aan Alex over de afgelopen vele maanden.

Mijn fotografische eerbetoon eindigde met een citaat van Dr Seuss: "Niet huilen omdat het over - glimlach, omdat het gebeurde." Mijn lofrede ook begon en eindigde met dit citaat. Het is zo'n eenvoudige offerte, en toch bijna onmogelijk om te volgen.

Ik wil ook Fred & Maaike bedanken voor de prachtige kaart stuurden ze. De afbeelding die u hebt gemaakt voor de kaart en de offerte die u in de kaart was perfect:
Degenen die we liefhebben gaan niet weg
Ze lopen naast ons elke dag
Ongezien, ongehoord, maar altijd in de buurt
Nog steeds geliefd, nog steeds gemist en zeer dierbaar

Op de avond van de dienst, Little Treasures herdrukt hun brunch menu in het geheugen van Alex. Van nu af aan, de Belgische wafels zijn in het menu als "The Hage familie Waffle uitdaging" - dus voor iedereen die in Sydney, maak de reis naar Little Treasures om het te controleren, en voor familie van Alex in Nederland en vrienden over de hele wereld, heeft dit aan uw beste reden voor het kopen van een ticket naar Australië zeker.

I would like to thank Alex's extended family in The Netherlands for following this blog, and especially for making sure that each entry was relayed to Aunt Nell.  I would also like to thank Nell for sending so many letters to Alex over the past many months.

My photographic tribute ended with a quote from Dr. Seuss:  "Don't cry because it's over - smile because it happened."  My eulogy also started and ended with this quote.  It is such a simple quote, and yet almost impossible to follow.

I would also like to thank Fred & Maaike for the wonderful card they sent.  The motorbike image you made for the card and the quote you included in the card was perfect:

Those we love don't go away

They walk beside us every day

Unseen, unheard, but always near

Still loved, still missed and very dear

On the evening of the service, Little Treasures reprinted their brunch menu in Alex's memory.  From now on, the Belgian Waffles are in the menu as "The Hage family Waffle challenge" - so for anyone living in Sydney, please make the trip to Little Treasures to check it out, and for Alex's family in The Netherlands and friends around the world, this has to be your best reason for buying a ticket to Australia surely.

Thank you all for following Our Unexpected Adventure.  And back to Dr. Seuss and his quote 'Don't cry because it's over - smile because it happened' - I'm not sure if I have any tears left, but I know for sure that over the coming weeks, months and years I will be smiling a lot when I think of a myriad things relating to our journey over the past 9 years.

Rest in peace Alex, and thank you for the amazing journey we shared.  I will miss you forever.