rekindled spirit

my mother, at my age

and here she is with the sun

i have lived a century

frida kahlo, rose auslander, and katherine hepburn

were born with me

that was also the year that the first helicopter flew

and albert einstein introduced the principle of e=mc²

i have 2 sons 

an artist with the wit of his father

and an engineer with the precision of my mother

i shared the tragic fate of many

when wwII kept my one and only

my confidence in the kitchen comes naturally

like i play a mean hand of gin rummy

for me, fresh flowers no matter what time of year

are necessary

i have spent the reichsmark, the ddm, dm, and euro

as i witnessed this land

fall apart, divide, reunite, and flourish

while it made my choices for me

aber es gibt kein anders land wie mein heimatland

deutschland ist eine wunderschones land

look at me, i have lived a century

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my grandmother-in-law, oma mary turned 100 years old on february 6th. we all gathered in stammbach last weekend to celebrate.

my parents in 1972

24 years ago on this day, my life as an only child ended. for me, it was a dream come true. i remember this day like it was yesterday. i remember who was there, what they said, what i was wearing, what my dad and i did after we welcomed bethel and left the hospital. and when i  remember the happiness that i felt, i feel it all over again.

i am honored to know daniel. my cousin danny is one of my favorite people in the whole wide world. a genuine human with such a good heart. i sometimes wonder how, long after the ages of innocence, in the midst of the craziness in this world, he has and still always manages to find the good in everything. there is a legend that has been told over the last 34 years of daniel’s life. it is said that on the night his mother went into labor all the lights went out in the city of asmara and that he was delivered in the dark. the moment that he took his first breath, all the lights magically turned on. they say he brought to his mother, father, all his family the light of hope that 19th day of december in the year of 1972. for this reason, the great ghebre/egzbier, our grandfather, whom noone disputed or refuted, insisted that they name him berhane (translates literally to “my light” in tigrinia).  ….stay tuned. more to come soon.