Stepping out of life dancing.
Even though Euthanasia is legal in my country the Netherlands, some stories are different than others and make the headlines. Strictly spoken this was not Euthanasia but a double suicide. A physician was consulted but he couldn’t do anything for them because not of the patients were suffering.
They were on the threshold of a care home but they were not willing to cross it. And so last Saturday David Postma (86) and his wife Willemke Ppstma-Kloosterman (84) stept out of life together.
In the midst of their children they died. After a lethal dose of medicine they went to bed. “We were actually waving goodbye to them. They went on their final journey. They waved back and fell asleep. It was a wonderful farewell.” The four sons are looking back with much fondness of the emotional time with their parents they had before died. “It’s fantastic that they gave us this farewell. We all had the time to say goodbye before they died.
Years ago they said already that if they went, they went together. A care home was something they never looked forward to. They absolutely didn’t want to go there. “Mother was the first to say she was ready to die. Father wasn’t ready yet and they still had a great time with their children, ten grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Father finally said he was ready when mother was injured on her foot and she would have been hospitalized for some time. Alone in an apartment was too much for him. He was ready to die.
“On a Sunday they said they were ready and they even picked a date, January 25. They didn’t want to die in December cause that’s a Holiday month and every Christmas would have been overshadowed by their deaths. January was good, a month were nothing special happens, a good month to die. Mother wanted to shift the date a bit because that was the same day an aunt died before, but we said she’ll be waiting for you with cake.”
The real goodbye party was held in December when the whole family came together. At time it was a somber event but there were also laughs. You tend to remember the highlights more than the lows. And this event was a highlight.
The suicide was not simple. Father had to check the internet meticulously to see how it had to be done properly. All other preparations were done. Subscriptions to magazines he cancelled and if there was mail he mailed it back, with written on the back “deceased”. To some degree he enjoyed it.
They never made a secret of them stepping out together. Everyone had time enough to say their goodbyes.
“On the day of their deaths everyone of the family was there. Mother like accordion music and so we played some and we danced. Dancing out of life.”
After their deaths a physician was called and he could conclude nothing else than an unnatural death. Police and justice was involved. But everything was crystal clear. Dad made sure everything was sound so no one left behind would feel judicial consequences.
Eventually their bodies were released and they were cremated this weekend.
Translated from Dutch newspaper Leeuwarder Courant.
Great love story.