lovely people,
Today, 4 December ’22, exactly one month has passed since Nicole’s disappearance, after 52 years of pure love. I want take this opportunity to thank you all personally.
Despite the great sadness, we have experienced very well how strongly Flanders sympathizes. We are overwhelmed with thousands of e-mails, letters and postcards.
Many people have written a few short words of comfort. More beautiful letters with personal memories. I read every email, every letter and every card. Out loud, because then the words penetrate deeper through and that’s how I know Nicole hears them too.
Your replies are still so massive that unfortunately it’s impossible to reply to all of them personally, for which I apologize. Family and friends tell me every day about the catchy and personal messages many people have posted on their social media. I hear stories and moving testimonies like the messages I receive myself.
How happy Nicole would have been with so much warmth and love! All those messages mean one to me great support and comfort.
And also a special word of thanks to the people who gave a gift ‘in memory of Nicole’ benefits of the Alzheimer’s League (www.alzheimerliga.be). A charity that is close to our hearts.
I miss Nicole every moment of every day. Nicholas is unique. I don’t know anyone that warm, that sweet, that funny and everything in between strong like them.
After our intense life together, the pain, sadness and loss are obviously heavy to bear. Luckily I’m not alone in this. Nicole always told me to move on when she was gone, especially after the diagnosis. She has always given me the strength to persevere and she always will. I want her to be able to repeat it over and over, just like when I sang a difficult solo piece at a concert ‘See if you can, if you want’.
Nicole’s urn is now at home, here with me. This gives me peace and strength.
I have a wonderful family and best friends, who are always there for me and who I can always reach out to for a chat or a hug. It gives me strength to carry on and keep Nicole’s memory alive, also musically. I want to think about what I will or will not do in the next few months. Nicole always has he said ‘you don’t have to stop, you have to continue’. But now it takes time to grieve.
No matter what I do, I will never be alone. I will always feel Nicole by my side. And he keeps dreaming, thinking about her. “Believe in the beauty of your dreams” remains our motto. Because as long as I’m here, and as long as you’re there, Nicole is there too and she will never be forgotten.
For more than 50 years we have always felt loved, but we didn’t know that you love us so much. Thank you for giving Nicole and Hugo such a happy life and outstanding career. You brought us Canzonissima with ‘Goeiemorgen Morgen’, the Eurovision Song Contest and ‘Baby Baby’, the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Japan, we traveled through the Netherlands with André Van Duin, we sang on beautiful cruises for 25 years on all continents, you believed in our ‘Pastoral Care’ and embraced us even in the most difficult moments.
For all the loving responses over the last few weeks: eternal thanks, on behalf of Nicole and Hugo, as I will always continue to sign on behalf of both of you. I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon because I’m sure I’ll move on.
Best wishes,
Nicholas in Hugo
