Letter from Jan to Ann

Ann, we are 69 years of age today.  I can't grasp you are in heaven. 

We began as one egg. You pushed yourself out first and you have marched ahead of me again into heaven. You know we never really talked about death and dying except it just couldn't happen. But three months before you died, do you remember saying, "I have to die first. You have Tom. I would be alone."  I continue to have these awful mishaps, diarrhea everywhere, falling over the open dishwasher door, breaking more bones - I carry my pain alone. You are in heaven, your suffering is over. Hurray for you!  And you were right, I couldn't have made it without Tom. 

Sometimes I wail out your name. So many things I want to say to you. A new makeup I found. A new book. A sad feeling. I've talked to all your children. Brock is sending me a new blender. Mine is broken. I know you would be proud. Honey, you lost touch of all the millions who are changed today because of you. Remember Phillip Russell, your ROTC partner?  He called. The only person from school I would even recognize. We graduated 51 years ago.  He and I have had really honest talks about being haoles.  How ugly and inferior we felt.

Ann, we have laughed and snuggled in beds with our magazines, spoken on the same platforms, argued fiercely.  Never free for a day to be just ourselves. We had to always wonder what the other one was doing or getting.  I don't have to worry about my weight anymore.  It's a relief, honey. Why did you need to be so much smaller than me?

You are brilliant, beautiful, gifted and the most loving person I've ever met. I'm struggling with being overly defensive. I always have been a fighter. Another thing I wish we could talk about. While I feel a big piece pulled a part of me when you died, I carry you with me everywhere I go. Thank you for sharing your world, your great friends, your blessings. God poured great blessings into both of our lives, but I still become someone special, "magical", to people when I say I'm the twin sister of Ann Kiemel Anderson.

I crawled into your hospital bed minutes after you died, honey, and wrapped my arms around you, kissed you, cried, and knew my life would never be the same again. Wait for me, I'm right behind you!

I will always love you, darling.   Jan

Ann's Memorial Service

Recorded on March 8, 2014 at Bear Creek Community Church on Vimeo.

Ran across this quote embedded in one of Ann's first blog posts.

everything must balance.
if i want to love deeply,
i should expect to suffer deeply.
this means i more or less choose
for myself what i want to put in
and take out of life. nothing great
or noble comes cheaply.

We all thank God for Ann and the legacy she left us.

Please continue to pray for Ann's family as they mourn her loss.

Ann's Memorial Service Streamed Live on Saturday

Wanted to make sure that you all knew that Ann's memorial service will be streamed live tomorrow (Saturday) at 2pm Pacific Time at http://www.BearCreekChurch.com.

A Focus On The Family Friend Has Gone Home

https://community.focusonthefamily.com/b/jim-daly/archive/2014/03/04/a-focus-on-the-family-friend-has-gone-home.aspx

Please feel free to visit Ann's Caring Bridge Site to leave words of encouragement and testimony.
Information on Ann will be posted to her FaceBook Site and her Caring Bridge Site.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/annkiemelanderson

Excerpt:  "I'm Out To Change My World"  Ann Kiemel, 1974

June

one day a girl came in on her bicycle.
she had another friend with her
and this friend's father was president of the city college.
and she was an agnostic.
but i loved her anyway.
i wrote poetry with her;
i laughed with her.
i arm-wrestled with her on the floor;
i jogged with her;
i rode a ten-speed with her.
i shared Jesus with her everytime i got a chance.

she would call me some nights
and in the middle of of a conversation
she would slam the phone down in my ear.
i don't know how often the phone slams in your ear
but i didn't exactly appreciate it.
i mean after all,
she was the one who called me.
but i loved her.
although, i really shouldn't say so
because sometimes i really wanted to give up.
and sometimes i really wanted to smack her in the mouth.
but Jesus in me loved her
through thick and thin.

and then one day seven months later
the phone rang.
she was sobbing and crying,
"ann,
i don't know how to tell you
but today at school,
in an unexpected, obscure moment,
it came to me --
God has to be.
because no one in my life loved me the way you loved me.
if anybody can love me through my moods
and the drugs
and all my mess the way you loved me,
there has to be a God.
ann,
in an obscure moment today
i found Him."

just about a month ago,
i got a letter from June.
she has Bible clubs everywhere.
Jesus is Lord of her life.
she's out to win her family to Jesus.
she believes.
just because somebody loved her
through thick and thin
and you see, you can't stop love.
love finds a way through.