Note to my father -

Dad, I remember clearly that we lived in the small grocery store in Hijum. I have several memories of the time we left that house, in which I was born in 1931, for another home in the same town four years later. I remember fishing in the canal with uncle Lolke, and in my eagerness to warn the fish not to bite in the worm because there was a sharp hook inside of it, fell headfirst into the canal. I remember clearly how I saw the clouds in the sky and three cows on the other side of the canal looking at me while I was lying on my back under the water and everything being so peaceful and warm. I also remember stopping a truck coming at me by standing in the middle of the road with my hands up high. I could easily have drowned, or killed by that truck, but here I am, alive and well, living at this home, where I feel safe and comfortable, where I found people who care, also about me.

So dad, do not worry about me. Do you know that in this year, in July or august, I will be just as old as you were when you passed away, being eighty-five years and three months? You know father, I will put in a good effort to beat you – just because I enjoy it here.

You know, I did it!

I am now the patriarch of the Hendrik Smid and Jacobje Roelevink line.

With the help of of my granddaughter Megan I am starting a blog and tell you something about our family history.