Grandpa, he loved nature. I'd have liked to known him better, a peaceable sensitive soul, yet stable. He loved birds, and he would have been thrilled to see the ruby throated hummingbird we saw earlier. He would have marked it in his little bird sighting record. With him I share this love of nature and of birds.

Dad, a sensitive, quiet soul. what ponderings of his mind did he keep quiet? I cannot know, for he kept them quiet. I owe my existence to him, he saw something attractive in my mother and from their union, I resulted. I remember once, he painted a picture of a pink rose. He loved roses, and planted rose bushes in his and in gramma's yard. With him I share this love of beautiful roses.

Gramma, a practical, yet generally serene nature. She was the family matriarch, she had the strong will to keep her family together. She loved to dress well, and took special care of her clothes. With her I share these practical aspects.

Mother, a often dissatified, but always curious nature. From her seed I come, up north from the Nile, by the Baltic Sea, through the cobbled streets of Prague, over the sea in a boat, and to the windy cold climes of Joliet. She loved to read, to 'seek the mysteries' in her own way. She encouraged my independant thinking.

From these people, come my genetic heritage. Up from their seeds, I arose. No children from me, but my deeds, may they live long upon the earth.

And here is my departed Laura! Kin of my kin, by declaration of soul bond! Many are the accomplishments of my courageous Laura! She declared her unique individuality in a time and era when people didn't. She found a way. She spoke her mind fearlessly. And she loved me. She saw in me the future me, which is only now beginning to manifest. Ours is a love which shall not die. I carry it with me in my heart.

These are those departed, who have been kin to me. I enjoyed those moments with them, in which we shared special times. May these moments remanifest in new ways in my life. May I carry them into the future, they are not lost.

"That which is remembered, lives." And so these people live in my heart, travellers with me on my strange and unique path, towards the unknown future.