“Iʻve had a wonderful life and have been able to do everything Iʻve wanted — at least three times over!”

This was something Carl Crosier was fond of quoting often, referring especially to his being able to conduct the great works of Bach, his ability to travel far and wide, and to experience or to prepare great meals with family and friends. He especially said this after learning of his pancreatic cancer diagnosis and said in looking back at his life, he had absolutely no regrets.

As you may have expected, I have received an avalanche of condolence messages and sympathy cards following Carlʻs death on August 28th. But I especially wanted to share this letter which I received from Jack Schweigert, long-time member of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu:

Over the years Iʻve learned to pick up on signs and since the sign I am about to tell you of relates to Carl, I thought you might enjoy hearing it.

As to background, at the church service [funeral], I was most intrigued when the pastor [Father William Kunisch] made reference to Carl and the number three. Therefore after the service I went up to the pastor and asked about his reference to three. He explained to me that Carl just did things in threes.

With that thought in mind, the very next morning as Iʻm watering my plants, one plant that I have had for a couple of years never even flowered, in fact I did not think it a flowering type plant, had produced over the night time since the church service three white lily-type flowers which were absolutely beautiful. To me this was Carlʻs way of saying although he no longer may be with us physically, he made it into heaven. I can think of no other reasonable explanation.

I hope this story brings you comfort.
Jack Schweigert

Thank you, Jack. The story does make me smile, though, because in all the years that we have had house plants, none have survived (I have the proverbial black thumb!) and Carl never rescued them from me!