A farewell letter/Stieg Larsson, the Millenium writer

[Guest guest]

I have been catching up on my summer radio listening... strange as it may seem in October... The program "Sommar" (means: Summer) is a yearly radio tradition in Sweden since 1959, and it consists of a daily show, 1,5 hours long, from June to August, with a new host every day. The hosts are to talk about whatever they want, but usually about there own lives, and play whatever music they like. It's a "where interesting people get to talk without being interrupted"-concept. And I love it! But this year, for the first since I don't even remember, I just never had the time to listen to it during summer. But luckily enough for me, the shows do come as podcasts too, you can even subscribe to them and they'll be e-mailed to you after the show has been broadcast. That way you can listen to it whenever. And that's what I have been doing last week, on buses and trains and in the library (in my iPod). Which brings me, finally!..., to the real subject of this post. Today I listened to the program hosted by, Eva sson, the widow of the Millenium writer Stieg Larsson (well, they never actually married, but they lived together for some 30 years, so I say she's his widow). And it was very interesting, and very touching (almost made me teary eyed). The thing is that Stieg Larsson was one of the people under constant threat from the Nazi terrorists I told you about a couple of weeks ago. That I knew beforehand. I never knew him personally, but I knew him as one of the journalists under death threat from Nazis for his relentless struggle for truth to be told and justice to be had (he actually had many similarities with Mikael Blomkvist, the journalist hero in his books). In fact, when I heard he was dead my first though was that he had been killed by the Nazis that threatened him (they had come close to succeeding a couple of times), but it was a heart attack that ended his life. What I learned from the show was that this threat was also the reason why he and his Eva never married. She expressed it as: "That became our way of protecting each other. By being listed as unmarried, he could protect me. And by keeping his name out of rental contracts and bills, I could protect him." I always thought that they just never got around to it, but it turns out their non-marriage was actually the finest declaration of love and commitment to each other they could have made. Little do you know. But the part that made me teary eyed was the farewell letter from him to her that she read from in the end of the show. It was written several years before his death, when he had been in danger and believed that he would not return home alive. In that situation he wrote to her:"I want you to remember me. But I don't want you to grieve over me.

If I really meant something to you, and I know that I did, you are bound to feel pain now, when you have been given the message about my death. But if I really meant something to you, you'll know that I don't ever wish you pain.

Don't forget me. But live on. Live your life. The pain will go away, even if it doesn't seem that way right now. So live in peace, my beloved friend.

Live. Love. Hate. And keep up the fight.

Take care of yourself, Eva! Go out and have some coffee! It's all over now. Thank you for the beautiful times we shared! You made me very happy. "Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a letter like that from the ones we have loved and lost. But how rich she is to have it. And what a beautiful love she has lost. love/Reb

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the post. It was very touching Reb. Margaret

>I have been catching up on my summer radio listening... strange as it

>may seem in October...

>The program " Sommar " (means: Summer) is a yearly radio tradition in

>Sweden since 1959, and it consists of a daily show, 1,5 hours long, from

>June to August, with a new host every day. The hosts are to talk about

>whatever they want, but usually about there own lives, and play whatever

>music they like. It's a " where interesting people get to talk without

>being interrupted " -concept. And I love it! But this year, for the first

>since I don't even remember, I just never had the time to listen to it

>during summer. But luckily enough for me, the shows do come as podcasts

>too, you can even subscribe to them and they'll be e-mailed to you after

>the show has been broadcast. That way you can listen to it whenever. And

>that's what I have been doing last week, on buses and trains and in the

>library (in my iPod).

>Which brings me, finally!..., to the real subject of this post. Today I

>listened to the program hosted by, Eva sson, the widow of the

>Millenium writer Stieg Larsson (well, they never actually married, but

>they lived together for some 30 years, so I say she's his widow). And it

>was very interesting, and very touching (almost made me teary eyed).

>The thing is that Stieg Larsson was one of the people under constant

>threat from the Nazi terrorists I told you about a couple of weeks ago.

>That I knew beforehand. I never knew him personally, but I knew him as

>one of the journalists under death threat from Nazis for his relentless

>struggle for truth to be told and justice to be had (he actually had

>many similarities with Mikael Blomkvist, the journalist hero in his

>books). In fact, when I heard he was dead my first though was that he

>had been killed by the Nazis that threatened him (they had come close to

>succeeding a couple of times), but it was a heart attack that ended his

>life.

>What I learned from the show was that this threat was also the reason

>why he and his Eva never married. She expressed it as: " That became our

>way of protecting each other. By being listed as unmarried, he could

>protect me. And by keeping his name out of rental contracts and bills, I

>could protect him. "

>I always thought that they just never got around to it, but it turns out

>their non-marriage was actually the finest declaration of love and

>commitment to each other they could have made. Little do you know.

>But the part that made me teary eyed was the farewell letter from him to

>her that she read from in the end of the show. It was written several

>years before his death, when he had been in danger and believed that he

>would not return home alive. In that situation he wrote to her:

> " I want you to remember me. But I don't want you to grieve over me.

>If I really meant something to you, and I know that I did, you are bound

>to feel pain now, when you have been given the message about my death.

>

>But if I really meant something to you, you'll know that I don't ever

>wish you pain.

>

>

>

>

>Don't forget me. But live on. Live your life. The pain will go away,

>even if it doesn't seem that way right now. So live in peace, my beloved

>friend.

>

>Live. Love. Hate. And keep up the fight.

>

>

>

>

>Take care of yourself, Eva! Go out and have some coffee! It's all over

>now.

>

>

>

>

>Thank you for the beautiful times we shared! You made me very happy. "

>

>

>

>

>Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a letter like that from the

>ones we have loved and lost. But how rich she is to have it. And what a

>beautiful love she has lost.

>

>

>

>

>love

>

>/Reb

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