From Marianne Lelieveld in Holland

Thursday, February 28, 2008

From Marianne Lelieveld in Holland

Hallo Marji sweetheart,

Thank you, thank you for sharing Lisa's parting here. I have been able to take part in and mourn Lisa's crossing over because of you. I have been able to cry and celebrate Lisa these past days because of your enormous generosity (and of course hers).

Lisa was my mentor. When our family visited Westchester (where our d.s. was born) she was always there welcoming us and drawing us into the unschooling circle she had around her. We joined in her ceramics class at Garrison and cooled down at the lake close/next to her home.

Over the years she patiently and warmly answered all my email questions and gave me information that I've shared with my homeschooling friends here in Holland. Lisa inspired me and many of my Dutch friends. Because of Lisa my family and other homeschoolers on this side of the Atlantic are leading enriched lives.

My thoughts are with you and others here that shared their lives with Lisa. You must miss her so. I cannot begin to imagine how her beautiful daughters and husband are doing without her.

In sadness and happiness,

With many thanks, warm blessings and hugs,

Marianne Lelieveld

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About This Blog

Lisa was buried yesterday, February 27, 20008, very near her home in Lake Peekskill, New York. The part of New York where she was "laid to rest"* is just to the east of the beautiful Hudson River and is notable for its verdant, rolling hills. The site where she was buried is, if my navigational skills are intact, in a western-facing slope of one of these hills, providing the viewer with a breathtaking vision of hills and valleys.

If standing on a rather steep slope under a steely
February sky with a biting, chilly wind weren't, um, challenging enough, the slushy snow and ice underfoot definitely added an intensity to the moment. Every now and again, someone would succumb and suddenly slip, even though they were standing still.

Yet, somehow we were warm, all of us there together. (We reminded me, just a little, of the penguins who huddle in Antarctica. Okay. Perhaps I'm exaggerating just a tad!)

The rabbi who conducted the service (I didn't catch his name) was eloquent and impassioned. As Liam's young friend Ben said as we drove home later, "How could he not be? He had excellent material to work with." So true. You really got the sense, you knew that this man knew Who Lisa was. He was thorough and kind.

When the opportunity for the mourners to speak came, I stepped up with my 20-page-long list of messages, some lengthy, some brief, that had been sent from very near and very far. Before I left the house for the funeral, I timed the reading of the whole thing and found it to exceed 30 minutes' duration! And that was with some editing. I felt that I couldn't do that to this slipping-and- sliding, shivering bunch. So, although I was prepared to read all the submissions, I read only one rather concise piece and told folks that they could look at the tribute blog I am creating to see the rest in all their unabridged beauty. You are here now.

For a while, there, last year, Lisa and I and a couple of other local unschoolers (Mary Ann and Robin) were trying to get an unschooling information night going for folks who expressed an interest in learning about unschooling. I believe it was Lisa's idea, and she invited me to participate ~ how incredibly honored I felt! For some reason tonight, after the funeral, I looked back through our email exchanges; we were
working on refining the notices for the event and the event itself. Looking through these emails, I felt a sharp pain in my heart that I will not be having these exchanges any longer with this impossibly wonderful, bright, sweet person.

We also talked about her puzzling, frustrating illness in many of these emails; the illness, by the way, precluded our ever getting this thing off the ground. It was the consensus of the three of us, Mary Ann, Robin, and me, that Lisa and Roxanne and Ruby were indispensable; I felt they could have gotten along without me just fine, but I couldn't imagine the thing without Lisa. ::sigh::

I'm really rambling when I ought to be sleeping. If you're moved to add a contribution to this tribute and you haven't already sent me something, please do send me something now. It'll never be too late.

Sending you love,

Marji

** For the record, while Lisa's body may have been "laid to rest," I believe her spirit SOARS and will never, ever "rest." (Okay, maybe for a moment or two.) I believe she is as proactive in spirit as she was in the flesh and she is still spreading her joyful Lisa-ness now everywhere.

Tribute to Lisa Heyman (October 31, 1960 - February 25, 2008)

Thursday, February 28, 2008