Memorial & Art Showing Confirmed

The past few days have been surreal. I've been home with Nina's two sisters Ann & Margaret, and Nina's son Tom. They have been so wonderful by keeping me company and helping with the task of planning.

I have been reading the incredible outpouring of love from people that knew Nina. Both here, on the blog, on Facebook, and e-mails. It's impossible to read them without breaking down and crying. I knew I was lucky to have Nina, but this unbelievable outpouring of love just confirms what a "superstar" I had for a partner.

As for Ann, there have been surprising triggers that have brought her to tears. One of them was simply saying the words "Masala Dosa" because she knew that was Nina's favorite Indian food. The other, was when I first met Nina 12 years ago, I bought her a small potted Myer lemon tree. She planted it in her backyard and the thing grew vigorously over the years bearing far more fruit than we or our neighbors and friends could possibly use. We both felt it was a symbol of our love for each other. Yesterday Ann had called the home nursing unit to ask what to do with the unused and expired bags of TPN we had. They said it was an excellent plant food. So Ann started pouring the bags out at the foot of the lemon tree and it was at that point that the train of emotions came over her.

The day Nina passed away we were all sitting at the dining room table and I looked out the window and there was a hummingbird looking right in the window. I was surprised because first of all it was pouring rain out, and I've never see one in the winter. Over the course of the next several days, it appeared again several times hovering right in front of the rear sliding door looking in at us. Was it Nina checking in?

Anyway we have two great things planned to honor Nina and we're hoping everyone can come. One is a memorial on April 14th at the beautiful Brazilian Room in Berkeley's Tilden Park. The other is a gallery display of some of her artwork. Nina left an incredible volume of artwork that spanned her entire life. We're still working on details for that one, but it will be at the Gruenwald Press in San Francisco on April 13th & April 14th (the same day as the memorial). There may be longer hours available both before and after the memorial.

We do need a head count for the memorial, so we're requesting you RSVP. There are four ways you can do this.

• Go to www.ninadeckert.com and enter your info (easiest will take 2 seconds)
• Call 510-845-4581 and leave a message with your name, number and the number of guests.
• E-Mail: sam@samlewit.com
• Mail: Sam Lewit, 1213 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94702

There is also a lot more info available on ninadeckert.com.

Please pass the word to anyone you know who knew Nina. Especially those that haven't quite kept up with the digital age. All are welcome to come! My hopes are that we fill the place.

Thanks everyone for all the kind words of encouragement and support these past 5 months. Nina told me numerous times how much it helped her. In fact, here is a short video shot in December with Nina telling everyone for herself. I can't remember if this was ever posted or not.

If you're getting these posts via e-mail, you're missing the wonderful comments being added. I highly recommend checking out the last set of comments here: http://ninawd.blogspot.com/2012/03/end-of-beautiful-life.html