I remember big little Opa

Luky;
KUNEGONDE, he called me, my tempestuous little grandfather with the loving heart. He and my grandmother lived opposite the primary school I attended, and many were the times I scaled the four flights of stairs to their apartment to bask in the warmth of their home, humour and love.

In those days Dutch churchgoers said lengthy prayers before and after meals - an Our Father, a Hail Mary, prayers to the Sacred Heart ,  the Immaculate Heart of Mary,  one's patron saint  - nobody was forgotten.
"Saint Kunegonde",  Opa would pray piously, casting a stern glance into my direction in case I giggled. "Pray for us", I'd answer meekly.

Mind made up
Opa was an avid reader of newspapers and a reluctant payer of taxes. A blacksmith by trade, he grudgingly paid his taxes until he felt that it would pay him better to go on pension. Then he popped the key of his smithy into a registered envelope, addressed it to the Receiver of Revenue, and went into retirement forthwith.
He derived a good deal of gloomy satisfaction from imagining the guilt and embarrassment of the revenue officials upon receiving the key. "They got their just deserts, Kunegonde", he said darkly, and although I doubted whether they gave two hoots, I nodded sagely.
He liked long hair. "Who was the hairdresser that cut off your beautiful plaits and where does he live?" he asked me. After I had explained, he nodded in a satisfied kind of way and went back to his paper.

Caught
"Opa", I said urgently. Inquiringly he looked at me over the top of his glasses. "Why do you want to know all that?" I asked. "I want to go and put a stone through his window", Opa said. Three times he caught me that way.
When we emigrated to South Africa he was exultant for our sakes. a card from him, addressed infuriatingly to "Die Hollander Bakker"   instead of my dad's name, bore three words: "Leve de Vrijheid!" (long live liberty).

Foreign land
I wrote to him from boarding school. "The girls here have such foreign names", I wrote, knowing that the ethnic implications of that would interest him. "There's one in our class called Flora Vettini  and another called Joslee Nirinsky".
I was disappointed that he didn't refer to this in his reply, but four years later when I was due to sit for my Matric   examinations my grandfather wrote:
"I trust Flora Vettini and Joslee Nirinsky are confident concerning the exam. Give them my best."

Lost in time
In later years he sent me pamphlets about hydroponics so that I could get rich by growing lots of tomatoes on a tiny plot of ground, but by now I was rather  neglectful of my faithful old Opa. Even when he sent a magazine reproduction of a painting depicting himself as a child of three watching a puppet show on the Dam in Amsterdam, I allowed it to get lost.
When one of my sons was three, he was the living image of the boy in that picture. At times people asked me whom he resembled. I told them I didn't know, and left it at that.

Catherine Nicolette
* Sacred Heart - another term for Jesus Christ, denoting His love and care for all humanity
* The Immaculate Heart of Mary - another term for Mary of Nazareth, Jesus' mother
* Patron saint - holy person or person who lived a godly life, and who is accepted as a spiritual example in one's own life worthy of imitation
* Saint Cunegonde (Kunegonde) was an Empress and a woman who lived a life devoted to God. Cunegonde was the daughter of Sigefride, the first Count of Luxemborg, and Hadeswige, his wife. Cunegonde founded bishoprics and monasteries to enable the evangelisation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and assisted the poor. Cunegonde went to heaven on 3^rd March, 1040.
* Die Hollander Bakker - Dutch words meaning 'The Dutch Baker'
* Names have been changed
* Graduation

Photograph of flowers taken by Rev. Catherine Whittle in Ireland. Please feel free to use the photo copyright free for any Christian, educational or spiritual purpose

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 Catherine Nicolette Whittle and Dr. Luky Whittle