Life After Windbird, Day 53: NHPR Celebration of Life for Mark
Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High Temp 64 degrees F
Location: Days Inn, Concord, NH
Thank you, thank you, New Hampshire Public Radio. This evening New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) hosted a Celebration of Life in Mark’s honor. It was a beautiful memorial to Mark’s life, both his professional life and his personal life. People who had worked with Mark at NHPR spoke with admiration about how he wove those two lives together. And a friend and colleague from outside of New Hampshire spoke about his outreach on the national level. Friends from public radio, the Concord Yacht Club, and the Concord School District came to pay their respects to Mark. My nieces that live near Boston, Candi and Lynn, came up and Jed’s Aunt Sue and Uncle John who live in Cambridge drove up with their grandson James who sailed south with us last fall. Heather and Jed came and Heather spoke eloquently on behalf of the family. I knew there was no way I could say anything without crying, so I declined. But then everyone who spoke struggled a bit with the tears, so if I had chosen to speak, I would have been in good company. But in addition to the tears, there was also laughter and amazing love. Sam and Dawn Weigel, the new owners of Windbird, flew up for the celebration and Sam read a special piece about people who are searchers. It was so special to meet them and I’m looking forward to having breakfast with them in the morning and talking boats before we all head home. After the celebration, Sue (a good friend from my teaching days) and David Wolowitz took a small group of us out to dinner. They included Sam and Dawn which was very kind of them. It gave me a chance to visit with old friends and time to get to know new friends. Thank you, David and Sue.
After breakfast tomorrow morning, I’ll head home and spend the next few days trying to get a handle on this new life without Mark. He would want me to learn how to do online billpay and he would want me to track my finances in Quicken. It’s definitely going to take me a few days to learn these systems. So I’m just going to sit at the computer until I get it. I’ll also sit with a calendar and start making plans for the future.
