my grandpa bought my first solo flight to florida. a summer excursion to play in the beaches with oma. we had gone as a family in a previous summer and stayed in the "white house": a white-tiled, white-walled with bleachy white couches that were potentially problematic for most everyone, especially for us children. Following that holiday, I spent every summer for many years in Lauderdale by the Sea with my dear sweet oma. I call her oma because she is German.
She grew up in Köln. She has amazingly capsulated her memories of this time, sharing bits and pieces, which I try now to document. She has always wanted me to write her story. One day I will. In the midst of the war, she met my grandpa mike, an american soldier who she came back to New York with. I think of her story when she met him in the restaurant they were both working at. Whilst he tried to woo her, he arranged for a night out with a group of the people there, and she remembers how he carried out a tray full of cokes in a bottle, each partly filled with rum and a straw. I can picture this, like an old movie.
She has moved back here with us where we take care of her now. I spend many evenings with my head in her lap where we laugh about our days wearing wigs and fancy clothes, and then cry about a time where she must say goodbye. it is overwhelming... in a good way, because i am lucky to have such an intimate relationship with meine oma.
Sie sind immer in meinem Herzen.
* i took the top photo on December 31, 2009
