ABDUCTED!
WHERE DID THEY GO? Do you believe in UFO's? I know some people do, even in my family, I might add. When we went to California, to visit my Tante Barbi, she showed us her ticket. Bought and paid for, in a space ship, to Mars. Had a seat number, I can't think whether or not they were on the aisle(did they have windows on UFO's?). I would think with the price she paid, she would have INSISTED on the window seat!!!!! She even described the way the people looked that sold it to her, and they were not THAT strange, outside of being green and having their bodies a little different than ours.
When Oma had gone to California to live with Tante Barbi I finally got some news from my Aunt, who insisted, "I don't need to write to you, by telepathy I know everything that is happening to you." Oma wrote regularly, and even some "telepathy", or dreams she had about our second cousins in Middletown. Axel and Annelies (note that she spelled her name without an e on the end ), son of Elsa (Grandpa's sister), were newly arrived compared to us. We often visited them, and they were doing great there, with their two girls accelling in school and violin lessons. Their yard had beautiful plantings of current bushes, flowers, trees, amazing plants. Annelies was in a cooking club and amazed everyone with her recipes and ability to cook. When we came for visits the meals were nothing short of a five star restaurant meal, desserts topping that for sure. I loved visits, talking German and about Germany, so when suddenly they cut off the relationship, I was horrified. Apparently, something someone said, about the girls was not true. I could believe that. We have a "slightly unbalanced" person we are dealing with, and we need to consider the source. However, the damage was done, and that family has since gone from the face of the earth. I know not where.
Had my Father been abducted? Never heard from, missing on the Rumanian front in WW2, just gone, like thousands of others in wars of the past. Mother lovingly talked about my Father paging through the old photo albums, the silver corners that hold the tiny pictures of black and sepia tightly to the soft oblong black pages. Places I could not recall. People I did not know. They could have come from outer space.
Have my own kids been Abducted? I do not hear from them, are they safe and well? Are they homeless, in prison, working good jobs, in the army, lost at sea? Here are the lyrics from a John Denver song "Looking for Space" written in 1976, on the Windsong Album, which you should go listen to. He was really a poet, and had a ticket on the next space shuttle to the moon.
On the road of experience and trying to find my own way,
Sometimes I wish that I could fly away.
When I think that I'm moving, suddenly things stand still,
And I'm afraid 'cause I think they always will.
And I'm looking for space,
and to find out who I am,
And I'm looking to know and understand.
It's a sweet, sweet dream;
Sometimes I'm almost there.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle,
And sometimes I'm deep in despair.
All alone in the universe, sometimes that's how it seems,
I get lost in the sadness and the screams.
Then I look in the center, suddenly everything's clear,
I find myself in the sunshine and my dreams.
And I'm looking for space,
And to find out who I am,
And I'm looking to know and understand.
It's a sweet, sweet dream;
Sometimes I'm almost there.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle,
And sometimes I'm deep in despair.
On the road of experience, join in the living day.
If there's an answer, it's just that it's just that way.
When you're looking for space,
And to find out who you are;
When you're looking to try and reach the stars.
It's a sweet, sweet dream;
Sometimes I'm almost there.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle,
And sometimes I'm deep in despair.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle
Like an eagle...I go flying...
High...
Free.
My Grandfather died but is more real to me than my Father, who lives only on the pages of the photos albums and in the stories my Mother told. In the hospital he was speaking German to a nurse, who as the only German-speaking person available, remained faithfully at his side until he died, and that man became the best friend of our family for years. George and his wife, Marie, were fascinated with our history, and insisted on befriending the family. Mom suggested they move into our house where Opa and Oma had lived, and then moved with us to the Madison Road front house. We grew up with them always as our neighbors. Every weekend we would have grillouts, with George making delicious chicken basted with Italian dressing, or some "special" concoction he newly discovered. Oma loved whatever he prepared, and enjoyed the fact that he also understood German, and knew Opa from the hospital. Marie was teaching nursing at the University, and always fun to be around for us kids, and weekends we went to the parks together. They were truly part of our family growing up. After I left home, they disappeared. After I married, it was as if they had been ABDUCTED! I've always wondered what became of these important people of my childhood, that suddenly vanished from our lives...
Tante Barbi's son, Michael, was generous and loving, always a smile on his face, but when he went to California to live, he and his sister did not have an easy time. I know he was of the group that experimented with LSD at college, and after that was never the same. He ended up traveling the states in a VW bus, and we always wondered what had happened to him. He succumbed to overexposure at a young age. It's sad this was his end, alone in that van...not to be abducted...
When Oma had gone to California to live with Tante Barbi I finally got some news from my Aunt, who insisted, "I don't need to write to you, by telepathy I know everything that is happening to you." Oma wrote regularly, and even some "telepathy", or dreams she had about our second cousins in Middletown. Axel and Annelies (note that she spelled her name without an e on the end ), son of Elsa (Grandpa's sister), were newly arrived compared to us. We often visited them, and they were doing great there, with their two girls accelling in school and violin lessons. Their yard had beautiful plantings of current bushes, flowers, trees, amazing plants. Annelies was in a cooking club and amazed everyone with her recipes and ability to cook. When we came for visits the meals were nothing short of a five star restaurant meal, desserts topping that for sure. I loved visits, talking German and about Germany, so when suddenly they cut off the relationship, I was horrified. Apparently, something someone said, about the girls was not true. I could believe that. We have a "slightly unbalanced" person we are dealing with, and we need to consider the source. However, the damage was done, and that family has since gone from the face of the earth. I know not where.
Had my Father been abducted? Never heard from, missing on the Rumanian front in WW2, just gone, like thousands of others in wars of the past. Mother lovingly talked about my Father paging through the old photo albums, the silver corners that hold the tiny pictures of black and sepia tightly to the soft oblong black pages. Places I could not recall. People I did not know. They could have come from outer space.
Have my own kids been Abducted? I do not hear from them, are they safe and well? Are they homeless, in prison, working good jobs, in the army, lost at sea? Here are the lyrics from a John Denver song "Looking for Space" written in 1976, on the Windsong Album, which you should go listen to. He was really a poet, and had a ticket on the next space shuttle to the moon.
On the road of experience and trying to find my own way,
Sometimes I wish that I could fly away.
When I think that I'm moving, suddenly things stand still,
And I'm afraid 'cause I think they always will.
And I'm looking for space,
and to find out who I am,
And I'm looking to know and understand.
It's a sweet, sweet dream;
Sometimes I'm almost there.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle,
And sometimes I'm deep in despair.
All alone in the universe, sometimes that's how it seems,
I get lost in the sadness and the screams.
Then I look in the center, suddenly everything's clear,
I find myself in the sunshine and my dreams.
And I'm looking for space,
And to find out who I am,
And I'm looking to know and understand.
It's a sweet, sweet dream;
Sometimes I'm almost there.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle,
And sometimes I'm deep in despair.
On the road of experience, join in the living day.
If there's an answer, it's just that it's just that way.
When you're looking for space,
And to find out who you are;
When you're looking to try and reach the stars.
It's a sweet, sweet dream;
Sometimes I'm almost there.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle,
And sometimes I'm deep in despair.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle
Like an eagle...I go flying...
High...
Free.
My Grandfather died but is more real to me than my Father, who lives only on the pages of the photos albums and in the stories my Mother told. In the hospital he was speaking German to a nurse, who as the only German-speaking person available, remained faithfully at his side until he died, and that man became the best friend of our family for years. George and his wife, Marie, were fascinated with our history, and insisted on befriending the family. Mom suggested they move into our house where Opa and Oma had lived, and then moved with us to the Madison Road front house. We grew up with them always as our neighbors. Every weekend we would have grillouts, with George making delicious chicken basted with Italian dressing, or some "special" concoction he newly discovered. Oma loved whatever he prepared, and enjoyed the fact that he also understood German, and knew Opa from the hospital. Marie was teaching nursing at the University, and always fun to be around for us kids, and weekends we went to the parks together. They were truly part of our family growing up. After I left home, they disappeared. After I married, it was as if they had been ABDUCTED! I've always wondered what became of these important people of my childhood, that suddenly vanished from our lives...
Tante Barbi's son, Michael, was generous and loving, always a smile on his face, but when he went to California to live, he and his sister did not have an easy time. I know he was of the group that experimented with LSD at college, and after that was never the same. He ended up traveling the states in a VW bus, and we always wondered what had happened to him. He succumbed to overexposure at a young age. It's sad this was his end, alone in that van...not to be abducted...
Comments
Post a Comment