Many years ago Christina asked me what would I say about her, and knowing that my intellect had yet to mature she preempted my response:
"Do not tell me that I am cute and wild, or that my skin is soft, or that I am a master chef. Tell me what you really think of me; the truth".
At the time I gave her an answer. However, her early departure has made me reflect on my words to discover that I would need a lifetime to let her know my thoughts. I can add one more sentence every day.
Christina loved her family, her parents, and also her sisters. She always wanted to be close to her mom and dad. I felt great respect for those feelings because they were genuine. She adored her dad so much that she cultivated herself in the history of the two great European wars of the XX century, and how her dad's native Hungary was affected by these events and inevitably her dad. She wanted to write a book about her dad.
Christina would have made a great historian. She was learned in human history from biblical times to contemporary days. She had the skill and intuition to connect seemingly unrelated events in time.
At home, we know how much she enjoyed the subject of Egypt. When The Vancouver and Victoria museums had presentations of Egyptian historical artifacts she took us there. She read every label on each artifact! In her final days, she would watch documentaries about Egyptian rituals for the dead. When the episode started I told Christina that we better turn it off but she told me - "No, I want to know, continue playing it".
Christina was a kind person. She sympathized with the underdog, people in need, displaced. Before having children we used to enjoy "dates" in Vancouver and many times she would stop to talk to street young girls -"What do you need? Are you hungry?" Then she would buy them food. "I cannot help them all. Sometimes they are abused at home and they find the street trying to get away."
Christina was brave and she stood before injustice every time no matter the size of her foe. I know; I was there to witness!
My wife adored her children; absolutely adored them. As a mother she was exceptional. I have instructions from her final days: make sure you love the girls for me and for you; make sure they both feel and are equal; help them in all you can.
To me, what can I say; she gave me her life.
Christina died fighting, until the last hour, the last minute, the last breath. She did not crawl down to accept her fate to give death a sweet victory and for that alone she has my admiration and devotion. I am proud to be her confidant, her friend, and her husband.
In this life, it is very clear in my mind that Christina had her right to fight for a place among us. "To all of us upon this earth death cometh soon or late and how can someone die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of our families and the temples of our Gods"*.
Rest well Christina; I will be honored to lay by your side, as always, when my time comes.
Colophon
* Adaptation from Horatius by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome.
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