I wrote a while back about my sister Jennifer’s bucket list wish to go to the Wave Gotik Treffen music festival in Leipzig, Germany. I had hoped to find a kind soul to take her ashes with them for the festival, but I was informed that the laws in Germany surrounding the handling of human ashes are pretty strict. Uh oh!

Someone in the Facebook group I found for the festival mentioned that perhaps someone could take her picture to the festival with them, sort of like going on a posthumous adventure. And from that idea, three kindhearted people messaged me to say they would be honoured to take Jennifer to the festival with them.

We laid Jennifer to rest in the family plot on May 28th, and Wave Gotik Treffen was this past weekend in Germany. True to their word, Helmut, Peggy and Maureen all took Jennifer’s picture with them to the festival, shared her story with friends and strangers alike, and sent back many photos of Jennifer at the concerts, with the bands and with the costumed people attending the festival. I like to think that Jennifer had a wonderful time finally getting to ‘go’ to the festival that was on her bucket list.

If you’d like to see the photos from Jennifer’s adventure, please visit this page on her tribute website, www.jenniferellis.org.

To Helmut, Peggy and Maureen, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kindness in making this happen.

UPDATE: The story made it to the local paper. You can read about it here – https://www.sarniathisweek.com/news/local-news/petrolia-writer-makes-late-sisters-last-wishes-come-true