Category: Home & Family

My mother called me last night to let us know that Jeltje had died. Jeltje was the wife of my mother’s first cousin (my 1st cousin, 1ce removed) Wim. We’d just visited with them in Amsterdam back in May. In the first picture, you see their son Tony sitting with Vim. In the second, you see their other son Gerrt (I think I’m spelling his name right) and Jeltje. She was one of those people who just makes everyone around her feel welcome. After our first day in Amsterdam, where Wim took us all around the city, he said that if Ann was willing, Jeltje was going to market the next day and would like to have Ann along. So, Ann went all by herself out to their house in the south part of the city not knowing what to expect. She’d never met Jeltje before and I’d not seen her since I was in Denmark in 1984.

Ann arrived at the house and was warmly welcomed her and they spent a wonderful day going to market and Ann felt immediately included as part of the family. It’s not many people who can do that. The next night we went over for dinner and Jeltje made an incredible meal of Indonesian food from the ingredients bought at market the day before. She was quite the cook. I hadn’t seen her in nearly 20 years and yet I did not feel like a stranger or a distant relative. I felt the same way Ann did: like family.

We called Wim and expressed our sympathies and I’ve been talking to my mother and my sisters and we’ve all been agreeing how sweet Jeltje was. It’s always sad when someone dies. But it’s especially sad when it is someone who is so wonderful to everyone around her. Our hearts go out to Wim and their family.

I was sitting in a meeting at the Department of Labor when my cell phone rang. This was an important meeting and I was annoyed at myself for having left my cell phone on. I quickly glanced down at the screen and saw that it was my wife. I quickly hit the button to drop her into voice mail and quickly smiled an apology around the table. At that instant someone stuck their head in the door and said “There’s a tornado near Dulles [airport]!” I jumped up and said “I live near Dulles. Excuse me. I have to call home.” I ran out into the hall and called Ann back. She answered, “Where’s the safest place in the house to be in a tornado?”

She woke Jack up from his nap and brought him down into the basement. We’re always amazed at how kids never listen to you until it’s actually serious. He must have caught something in her voice because he did everything she told him to do. Including staying put.

They sat in the hallway in the middle of the basement where they could see the TV. She had lots of pillows, the phone, and a flashlight and they waited it out.

I went back into my meeting but occasionally dropped outside to check on the tv in the next room where they were watching the news which was showing a live doppler of the storm. I watched the big purple blog inch closer and closer to where we live…

In the end, a tornado did, supposedly, touch down briefly about 7 miles away and the worst of the storm did track right over our house and low pressure points with strong rotation formed in the wake of the storm. But no tornado actually came to visit and everyone was fine. And the meeting went very well.

After the storm was over, Ann opened the curtain in the basement family room and Jack said “Look Mama, there are men in the tree.” It seems that our neighbor asked the gardening contractors to trim our tree as it sticks over onto his yard. They were a bit over-zealous and were trimming it back on our side of the fence (which in technical terms is called trespassing). Ann went outside and scared them off using her dreaded scary-voice. Our neighbor apologized profusely and today the tree was trimmed correctly.