12 août 2015

Happy Birthday Eileen

August 11, 2015. Happy Birthday to Eileen S., born Baker. It is a day I never forget because of the way our friendship started 35 years ago. It was at Staufen im Breisgau, Germany. We were both learning German at Goethe Institute. She was living by Frau Schäfer and I by Schäffners with Charles Padathuruty from India, Andreas Zujwic (?) from Poland and Kiyoshi from Japan. Like in Rome, Staufen was a very international place where students from all over the world met to learn German language and culture. The students from Rome were there on a two-month scholarship generously provided by the German Embassy to the Holy See. I will never forget that everything in the Faust-Town and around was "weltberühmt" (famous in the world). On 8.11.1980 I happened to sit by chance near Eileen at one of the restaurants (Krone, Zum Rebstock or Zum Bahnhof) where Goethe Institute students would receive special lunch menus. And on that day of 1980, she has her birthday. We are still good friends despite the lack of regular contact.
Nowadays Eileen is married to Mitch and is the proud mother of Paige and Hunter S. I visited them in July 1997 during my first stay in the US. And something I will never forget, is that Mitch, a pilote with Nortwestern, called me from the plane while flying over Canada, on the day I left Memphis. May the Lord bless Eileen and her dear ones.
"Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Eileen" may I say again as German used to be our communication's language.

Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire