After the closing ceremony, Maya showed me her campground.

 
In addition to to making two friends her own age, Maya had befriended many of the older girls as well.

 
Parents assembled in the amphitheater as the campers, age group by age group, performed a song or skit before reuniting.

 
This morning I retrieved Maya from her week long stay at Camp Wildwood located in southern New Hampshire.

 
This evening Nicolai was interviewed by Steve Audette for a story he is doing for Frontline. Nicolai was a real trooper and handled the two hour session with grace. Steve is a skilled interviewer and really explored the emotional side of the story. You could tell he was angling for the most dramatic telling of Nico’s Kilimanjaro adventure (what all good story tellers do) but Nicolai held firmly to the slightly less glamorous truth of his experience. I was very proud of him for his unwavering honesty. We will know in a couple of weeks if Frontline picks up the 10 minute story. Stay tuned. I tried working from home today and with Maya at camp, Kyle at work, Nico at a friends, and Jeanine at yoga and then her nutrition training it worked out extremely well. Even though I was considerably more efficient, I must say I missed the office setting. I finished my last meeting at 7PM just as the team arrived to set up. It took about an hour to create a studio in our living room and setup the lighting and sound. We wrapped shortly after 10PM.

 
I got tied up at work until 8:30 but was rewarded with a beautiful sunset over the Charles.

 
The return flight from Indiana was delayed on the tarmac for over an hour and we did not return home until late Sunday evening. On each visit home, Jeanine enjoys the wide open spaces and the seemingly endless fileds and near inifinte sight lines. I thought this would be a nice image to remind her of home. See if you can figure out what the objects covering the field are. Click on the photo for a closer view.

 
Larry would have been pleased with the gathering of his family and friends to celebrate his life. He would have appreciated the outdoor, casual setting, where words came only from the heart and each song told the story of his life. Guests were invited to take plants from his garden (potted by the girls) as a remembrance and I know that nothing could have pleased him more. I am equally confident that he continues to look in on this blog everyday, as he did in life, and I will honor his memory by continuing to share the story of his daughter and grandchildren. A complete set of photos from the memorial service can be found by following this link.

 
….there were moments of joy.

 
Each daughter in turn spoke of their father and his life. For each moment of sorrow…..

 
Maya with second cousin Bradley.

 
The Earle family children (of Jeanine’s childhood friend Kris) have grown up beautifully. Kyle and Bethany shared the same bath tub as infants.

 
Jeanine was surrounded by friends and family who came from near and far to be with her at this time.

 
The girls fashioned an altar from giant wood slabs that Larry had planned to turn into table tops. The French, Sweedish, and Northwestern University (where Larry earned a degree in botany and minor in zoology) flags decorated the tent and were integrated into the service during the closing.