Journal entry by Joanne Negstad — 19 hours ago
Tonight we have Joanne through a friend's eyes. She sent a copy of Gerhardt Frost's poem Takk For Alt from his book Bless My Growing.
"She was not quite ninety-seven
when she died.
One who waited by her side
heard her say it:
"Takk for alt' 'Thank you for everything.'
It was her going home word to God.
Like a good guest
she addressed her Host.
She spoke as one well-taught,
well taught by life,
by memory and expectation!
To be gift-conscious is to be wise;
to know whom to thank is grace indeed.
To know the gift and love the Giver,
to have learned the dearest lesson,
to be rich toward God."
Our friend wrote "' Takk For Alt' is the last poem in the collection. The last stanza, for me, is Joanne. She was so totally gift-conscious--so filled with thanksgiving and thankfulness. How I treasure the many visits we had over lunch--the laughs, the shared frustrations and concerns when talking politics, the ways she opened my eyes to new ideas, the joys of her granddaughters, her willingness to listen when I was troubled. To Joanne I say, takk for alt!"
Yes, that too, was my experience of Joanne, and then, I find irony, or serendipity, or more likely the hand of God in Joanne's choice for her tombstone. Her only request was that on the stone it would say Tak For Alt.
Blessings,
Al
"She was not quite ninety-seven
when she died.
One who waited by her side
heard her say it:
"Takk for alt' 'Thank you for everything.'
It was her going home word to God.
Like a good guest
she addressed her Host.
She spoke as one well-taught,
well taught by life,
by memory and expectation!
To be gift-conscious is to be wise;
to know whom to thank is grace indeed.
To know the gift and love the Giver,
to have learned the dearest lesson,
to be rich toward God."
Our friend wrote "' Takk For Alt' is the last poem in the collection. The last stanza, for me, is Joanne. She was so totally gift-conscious--so filled with thanksgiving and thankfulness. How I treasure the many visits we had over lunch--the laughs, the shared frustrations and concerns when talking politics, the ways she opened my eyes to new ideas, the joys of her granddaughters, her willingness to listen when I was troubled. To Joanne I say, takk for alt!"
Yes, that too, was my experience of Joanne, and then, I find irony, or serendipity, or more likely the hand of God in Joanne's choice for her tombstone. Her only request was that on the stone it would say Tak For Alt.
Blessings,
Al
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