Happy Birthday To...

A young Aunt Elke

May is quite a birthday month at DC Heron Family. Celebrating birthdays today are: Darryl’s sister, Heather; her son, Jacob; and Christine’s aunt, Elke. On the 17^th is Darryl’s grandpa’s birthday.

Heather and Sarah in July, 2005

Heather is 38 today, while Jacob is 11. I have written posts in honor these two birthdays at a private blog, so I hope that they will take the time to read them. I also plan to put a post in honor of my grandpa’s 91^st birthday at the private site as well.

Jacob in July, 2005

Elke is celebrating her 60^th birthday today! This is one of those landmark birthdays in a person’s life. Her children are throwing her an intimate party at her home later today. Ilona has put together a nice little surprise in honor of the event, I’m sure that this will be well received. Christine had planned on attending, but since one of the insurance companies plan to send someone out to look at the damage from our garden shed, she doesn’t know when they will be coming and doesn’t really feel up to going to a party.

Elke is Ilona’s middle sister. She is also mother to Leoni and Florian. I first met her on Christmas Eve in 1999. Christine and I attended a service at her Aunt Marion’s church and then there was a family gathering afterward, where I met her for the first time.

I remember Elke throwing a real nice birthday party for her boyfriend that I attended not too long after moving to Germany. Also remember having a bit of a pre-Christmas party at Elke’s current apartment not long after she moved in.

So I’d just like to say Happy Birthday to all those celebrating birthdays today and this month. May is such a nice month to have a birthday, Spring is generally underway and Summer is usually not too far off. I hope that you all have nice birthdays and that you have many happy fun filled memories from your birthday.

We Survived A Fire In Our Backyard Yesterday!

The fence surrounds what used to be our garden shed

I just thought that I would get a quick post out to let everyone know that we had a fire in shed in our backyard yesterday morning but everyone is alive and physically uninjured.

It was right around 3:00 and my alarm went off and I was thinking about getting out of bed, when I heard Christine say that there was a fire in one of our trees. I looked out the window in our bedroom and was almost blinded by the brightness of the flame. Christine went downstairs to call the fire department and I rushed upstairs to wake oma and after some clarification with oma, we grabbed the girls and headed downstairs, then I got Hobbit our of our bedroom.

Christine talked with the emergency operator who said that the fire had been called in. However, the person on the other end repeated back our address but with the number inverted. She corrected the operator, who then repeated that the fire had been reported multiple times.

After what seemed like an eternity the fire department made it but our hut could not be saved! In it were bikes from the whole family (including the one that Sarah learned to drive without training wheels last week!). Our lawn mower and various other yard equipment were also inside. I don't really feel like listing the contents at the moment, but most everything is damaged beyond repair.

A good part of the fence that surrounded the shed is badly burned, but currently still standing. Because of the condition of the yard at the moment, we don’t dare let Hobbit in the backyard.

We’ve spent a good deal of yesterday making calls a lot of phone calls about what to do with all the debris, getting a hold of the right insurance people, and so on. As of this moment we’re not sure when the insurance company will send someone out to have a look, so we tried to we haven't really started to clean up any of the debris yet. At the moment it seems that Christine will be discussing the situation with someone from our agency this morning and then the insurance company will probably send someone out to have a look. I do hope that all this happens today as Christine and are tired of looking at the debris and want to move forward.

I’ll write more about this later, I just wanted to get a quick post out and let everyone know that the whole family is ok.

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary

Today is the 50^th Wedding Anniversary (goldene Hochzeit) of Christine’s parents! Ilona and Eberhard were married on this day back in 1958. This is an exciting event and I’m always happy to hear about a couple celebrating such an event. Unfortunately, since Eberhard passed away several years ago, Ilona will be celebrating this amazing occasion without him.

I regret that I didn’t have the chance to get to know Christine’s dad and that our girls won’t have the chance to get to know their opa. He was and still is the love of Ilona’s life. Sure she has had other relationships since he passed away but she always keeps that place in her heart for her Eberhard. I don’t think that if she lives to be past one hundred, that any other man will ever hold the same place in her heart.

Ilona and Eberhard had 30 plus years of married life together before he passed away. In their lives together they raised Christine. Where it not for this, it seems unlikely that I would have had the pleasure of getting to know Ilona. She is a wonderful and supportive mother-in law. Her friendly, warm, and outgoing personality makes me think that they must have had some wonderful years together with a lot of great memories. Seeing pictures of their wedding day, I can almost imagine that day.

In a time when some many couples get divorced, it is encouraging to know of couples that can be happily married for so long. While in their generation, divorce was probably not a real consideration, I believe that provided with different circumstances, they would have done things the same. A Golden Wedding Anniversary is a very special occasion and gives us all hope that love sometimes does triumph and people can live happily ever after.

Ilona visits the cemetery and Eberhard’s grave religiously (no pun intended), on their anniversary, his birthday, and other occasions. She will be stopping by there today in fact. She makes sure that the grave is kept up, something that some of many other graves lack. It is reassuring when you think that his memory lives on in Ilona and Christine.

While I can’t really do this event justice, I’d just like to wish a Happy Golden Wedding Anniversary to Ilona and Eberhard. Christine, Anna, Sarah, and I wish you all the best! Do you know of anyone that celebrated a Golden Wedding Anniversary? Do you have any other comments, I’d love to hear them. If you like the blog, feel free to add us to your rss feed or subscribe via email.

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• Our Wedding
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