Flashes Of Light
I feel called to write a blog post everyday in October. I’ve done it before and as before, I feel a little overwhelmed. I like to choose a unifying topic and expound upon it from day to day. This year I want to write about ‘flashes of light” in my life.
My definition of ‘flashes of light’ are experiences in life where the improbable happens and changes the course of what might have been. Do I have 31 flashes in my life or in the life of my family? At this point, I don’t know, but I do know that inspiration will push me forward to find the next experience and I believe I will finish the course.
I will begin with the story of my unlikely birth. World War 2 challenged the heart and soul of both my parents. My father was drafted as a young man with one child and sent to the Russian front. He endured lack of food and injury and in a ‘flash of light’ was wounded in the knee, leaving him unable to walk. A train was going back to Germany and he was put on that train which allowed him to convalesce in what is now East Germany and avoid more combat. His motto saved his life many times. “Never volunteer for anything, stay in the middle of the pack, shoot only if you absolutely have to, duck and keep your mouth shut”. He came back to his family and had the gumption to take us out of Silesia, which is now Poland, and into West Germany with only a handcart filled and our belongings.
By then my parents had three boys, all over 12, and a new start at a grave stone monument business in the West. But again he saw ‘light’ which convinced him that Germany would not recover in time to give his boys a chance at higher education. He started talking about America. My mother had a sister there and that gave her the courage to agree to leave. As preparations were made to emigrate my mother found she was pregnant at 43 years of age. My father and the teenage boys were aghast. The emigration was postponed and on October 24, 1953, I arrived, healthy and happy. The fact that I was a girl after three boys was a bonus which everyone recounted to me again and again. I felt wanted and loved. My brother writes in his journal:
“I mention the year 1953 again, which was the year our sister Gabriele was born. It was a home birth. We were old enough to understand all the preparations and possible risks. All of us couldn’t wait to hold her and spoil her with attention. My father always wanted a girl. He had three sisters, and the opposite sex was socially more rewarding for him. Being an artist, he loved painting, singing, and dancing more than athletic competition. Gaby was going to receive all his affection and creative energies. We were now a family of six, rather large by post WW II Germany standards.”
At two and a half I took the sea journey from Bremerhaven, Germany to New York. It was improbable that I would come so late in my parent’s life. But I did. I missed out on the negative experiences of war and started out my life in a more hospitable place where I was nurtured and guided.
On October 1st I will be writing everyday and I would be honored if you read my words. Have you had 'flashes of light in your life'?
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