Friendship

Time has a remarkable way of illuminating the nature of friendship.  Here are some stories about this concept.

Beautiful Things

by Amalia

Over the years I have learned that friendship is one of the most beautiful things in life, without friends life would be dull and sad.  

When you have happy moments in your life you want to live them with my friends. 

When you are unhappy, just to be able to have someone to listen, who helps you sort it out - what can be better than that? 

Being a friend for someone who is having a difficult time, to lend them courage, is a great blessing.   That courage is repaid many times over.

Life wouldn’t have the same meaning without friends.

Trying to understand each other is very important in friendships.  The gift of learning from each other is the best gift life can give us.  

Of course, it is very fortunate if you have friends that have the same ideals, but even if you find people who think differently from you, you will learn from them too. 

This requires not being hasty to jump to judgement.  Take your time and learn what it is and how it is people think.   Why does this matter to them?  Should it matter to me?  These are questions I ask myself and then try to answer.

If you are young you can learn from older people, if you are old you can learn from younger people.

Friends should be a stew for learning, different ingredients and different tastes but all together a rich experience. 

Unikely Friendships

by Margot

“Stranger than fiction” comes to mind when I think of my dear friend Merryl.  About 51 years ago my family (husband and 2 daughters) moved into a small apartment in Johannesburg.  It was very comfortable and had an imitation fireplace with built in cupboards on either side.  On opening one of the cupboards I found a Scrabble game in excellent condition.   This game remained with me through all our moves and finally came with us to Canada, 21 years after being found.

After we were in Calgary for about a year, wee were invited for Sunday tea by a friend and there met Merryl and her family who had newly arrived from Johannesburg.  Of course the conversation immediately was “Where did you life in Joburg?”   “Did you know so and so?”

It turned out that my husband and I had rented the apartment when Merryl had vacated it and accidentally forgot her scrabble game which I, of course, with much laughter, refused to return to her.  We have since enjoyed a wonderful friendship and are convinced of the magical properties of our scrabble board, a game we play often.

Friendship

By Bob

As I look back at my youth, it is easy to see the times when I established a mutual relationship that seemed to last forever:  Kids living in the neighbourhood that I’d play with on a regular basis, Class mates and buddies playing the same sports. There was always a sense of the other person being there for you at your time of need. They were happy times.

I feel privileged to have been able to find a friend everywhere I went.  The true friends reached out to stay in contact, and brought a sense of peace and joy to my heart when we shared our experiences.

Life seemed so simple years ago. I think there was more common sense at that time.  There was an innocence and trust in everyone, and I felt safe and secure with my family.  I experienced familial love about age 15 when I left home for the first time to work on the SS Kingston, a lake Ontario cruise ship during my July/August school holiday.  I knew my Mom would be on the dock waving hello when the ship came to port, & again at the end of August when I had to go back to school.

When I joined the Air Force and went to boot camp I felt like a fish out of water. I was only 17 and life was fast paced, & I matured very quickly. After I graduated as an Air Gunner I was transferred overseas, and after operational training I became part of a 7 man Bomber Crew.  During most of the following year our crew lived, worked, and socialized together, & this created a strong bond of family.  We became like brothers and this closeness continued for many years after the war. We attended family crew reunions, got together for holidays & family celebrations, & shared our stories, reminiscing about our many blessings received from the Lord.

Good friendships are treasures that soothe the soul.




What is Home?

Home is a complex concept and that changes as we gain life experience. 

This topic was inspired by searching out places and homes we had lived in via Google Maps Street View.  You can imagine how powerful it was to see a home we  had not lived in for perhaps 40 years and re-experience a place they thought they would never see again. 

Nomad

by

Amalia

When I was 17 I never thought I would live so long.  87 years old.

My childhood, with my parents before the war was a life without worries.  A naive state, perhaps.  I was with my parents and I felt safe & secure.  I have always thought of this feeling as the feeling of what home is:  safe and secure.

When there was war, then home changed.  In a camp, separated from my parents.  It was not home anymore, it was horrors.

We would dream in the camps, of what it would be like when we got out.  What would we want. Most of us just wanted to eat.  A simple life, safe and secure.   What I know now is that I would never feel like I had a home the same way again.

We fled from the camp, as the front approached.   The commanders and guards fled before us leaving they left their rifles behind so we took the opportunity to flee.  We were afraid we would be taken back to the camp so we hid out, reunited with my parents.  They feared for my safety being 17 years old so they sent me with other Jewish children, to an Orphanage in Romania

After a few months we were reunited and we had to look for another home

I don’t think any of us ever felt safe and secure after all that we had seen.

My parents were very sick, not very old, but sick because of life in the camps.  Home was not the same.  There were more worries I had to care for them, though they wanted  desperately to care for me.

Then again a change, when I was married we moved to Israel and then to Canada.

I think if there had been no war we would have stayed put, had a home, but the war made us like nomads, always searching, never finding, that sense of home.

Reflections on Home

by

Sandi

photo credit:  Sandi

Home to me is sharing my life with my 12 year old Pomeranian, Pinut who I have learned many lessons from, such as unconditional love; patience; kindness; caring; and much more. Pinut is champagne in colour. She looks like she has a mask on her tiny, sweet and endearing face. We are good buddies and seem to understand each other’s body language.

Home to me is a cozy condo townhouse which most of the time I enjoy. I enjoy my home because I feel safe and secure. My home is like a sanctuary as it is very calming and peaceful.

I have a small back yard, which was carpeted with yellow leaves from two large Poplar trees situated in my next-door neighbours’ yard…one on each side. Every year, I mindfully rake up the fallen leaves. As I raked up the leaves, I wondered if I would ever complete the job. This year, the job took about five hours from start to finish. I had to take a couple of brief breaks because of some pain…this happens as a person ages. I sat beside Pinut who immediately comforted me…that is the feeling of home. Finally, the job was completed. Hard work always gives me a feeling of accomplishment.

The next day the yard was carpeted with white due to the decision of Mother Nature to cover the ground with snow.

Home is many things to me. Home is a place where I can live with nature, with my wonderful partner in crime, Pinut and at times can be lonely. However, being alone allows me to learn how to be happy with whom I am. The hardest part of growing up at any age is learning to be okay alone and being happy with whom you are.

Home to me is a place of security and healing. I am very blessed.

________________________________________________

Where I lived

by

Aron Eichler

When you say I home, I think of my family.  There were 5 children in our family.  One born in Russia, the others in Poland. Only 2 left.

Over the years we have traveled to many countries during the prewar years.    We were not overly wealthy but my parents had to move in order to support us, it was very difficult to support a family with 5 children. 

Sometimes we had to be farmed out, to live with other family members in their home.  It was normal for a family to be broken up until we became of age: 12 for a girl 13 for a boy, when he has a bar mitzvah.

When the war broke out, my brother and I were on one side of the river that belonged the Russian authorities, my parents on the other side with the German authorities.

We stayed with my Uncle he had animals, it was nice.  It was not home but it was where I lived. 

I lost touch with my parents, when the Russian Government  gave them opportunity to go to Russia.   I stayed with my brother, he was 8, I was 10, living on my Uncle’s farm.

One day they arrested him for being a spy, he didn’t even know what the word spy meant, but they found an excuse to take us away.

We were put in an Arbeit Camp, a concentration camp.  It was not home but it was where I lived.

I shinned maybe 2000 boots of the Germans.  There were a few that would sometimes leave me candy or chocolate.   For a ten year old boy this was important.  They would eat their chocolate and drop the wrapper with a bit for me.   Not all of them, of course, but a few.

One day my uncle put on your two pair of pants, short and long pair.   I said why, he said  don’t ask why I will not give you an answer.

There was an escape planned.

He woke us up. 

It was time to find a new home.

Electric wire around the camp and the first few people died on the wire but their weight allowed us to pass over the wire to freedom.

Hundreds of people escaped.

My Uncle moved us through the wire ahead of him.

Then he was shot.

“Luft,  kinder, Luft” 

We ran into the woods, we ate berries, grass, sometimes we found a tree that found apples in orchards.  It was not home but it was where I lived.

We lived there for a long time.   

One day we heard “HALT!”

We froze.   

When I looked up I saw that the uniforms they were wearing were not of the German soldiers but of the resistance, the underground movement.

They gave me a new home.

__________________________________

What is Home?

by

Bob Peterson

Home:  What does home mean to this surfing senior?

“Home” on the ipad takes me back to different icons or applications.

Google Street View let me see my childhood "home" in Kingston Ontario.

Now, I looked up Google Earth Satellite view of my home but the street address was obscured by a cloud.  

(Am I living in “the cloud”?)

Then I Googled my  name a found an interview I had given regarding WW2

Is the internet my new home?

Home

by

Margot

“Home” does not mean the same thing for everyone.  For some people it is just bricks and mortar, for others it is a show place where they can display their wealth or their good taste.  For me it is and was always where I was with my parents and as I grew up with my husband and daughters.

My father always said that anything in life that is replaceable is not important.

I have lived in seven different countries one of which was Israel, where I met my beloved husband, who was from South Africa. 

When our daughter was 15 months old my husband decided we should move to South Africa, which meant, for me, leaving my entire family.  Parent’s, brother, grandmother & seven uncles and aunts and cousins.

After some years we were able  to go back to Israel very often and each time as I got onto the tarmac at Ludd, I had this over powering feeling:   THIS IS HOME.

Happy to be Home

by

Frances Kalb

As you know, September 11, 2001 affected everyone including me.  This is my story.

After visiting my daughter, Arlene and her family in Atlanta, Georgia, I was returning home to Calgary on that fateful day without any knowledge of what was in store.   We left Atlanta about 8 am Eastern time.   Shortly after take off the Captain’s voice came over the loudspeaker that we were making an unscheduled landing in Memphis Tennessee.    He also mentioned that there was not mechanical problem and not to worry.   We landed without knowing the sad and tragic day that was ahead.  Only when we landed were were informed of the tragedy at the Trade Centre in NY and other places, and were told to pick up our luggage and make arrangements to get back to Atlanta.   All flights were cancelled.

I was fortunate enough to meet up with a lovely young woman and her children on their way to Hawaii.   She was able to get hotel accommodations for herself and for me as she was an airline attendant.  Many people were simply stranded.   She had phoned her husband and he would be there to join them that evening and return to Atlanta the next morning by car.   They included me in the return trip and so I was back at my daughter’s home the next day to remain for another week.  

Arlene and my granddaughter welcomed me home with open arms, lots of hugs and kisses, so happy that I was safe.  

May We Introduce Ourselves?

The Bubbies & Zaida’s Blogging group is a project that endeavors to take being an Elder into the  digital age.  The goal of the blogging project is to introduce you to some elders in the community and invite you to see the world from their perspective.  Perhaps you may see things differently after reading several stories about life on a different side of the mountain.    Before we dive in and share our stories, we would like to introduce some of our bloggers.

Sandi:  I was born August 1947 in the small town of Chemainus, B.C. located on Vancouver Island.  When I was the age of three my sibling and my parents moved north to Nanaimo, where I completed my education and at the age of 21 joined the Air Force.

January 03, 1969 I became a member of the Air Force, which was one the best decisions I have made. Basic training was took place at CFB Cornwallis from January until March. My trades training, a Finance Clerk took place at CFB Borden from March until June. After my training, I was posted to CFB Ottawa. I took my release the end of March 1976.

June 1978 I moved to the city of Calgary. Outside of my employment history, I experienced the joys of Ballroom and Latin Dance lessons; two stand-up comedy courses and one improv course; being a civilian officer with an Air Cadet Squadron and 15 years as a Toastmaster.

One of my proudest accomplishments is rappelling down a three story building Aussie style (face first), when I was involved with the Air Cadet Squadron about 17 years ago.

Bob

Robert Petersen:   The 4th of 9 children, Bob was born and raised in Kingston Ontario.  Bob married a Dublin gal, Maureen, in London, England in 1949.   They have 5 children.  Bob’s wife (nicknamed Penny) passed away in July of 2012.

In 1941, Bob became a member of the Air Cadets. In 1942 an Airforce Flying Instructor gave Bob a flight in a Harvard Training Aircraft and this gave him a thirst for a flying career.

Enlisting in the RCAF at age 17, Bob trained and graduated as an Air Gunner, and went on to serve as the rear gunner in a Lancaster Bomber in England attached to the Royal Air Force #100 Squadron

After WWII Bob served in both the Royal Air Force and Canadian Air Force and since retirement Bob continues his connections with friends in Aviation. 

Amalia

Amalia: I like challenges. I have lived over 87 years on this planet. I have seen many things and had many challenges.  Not many of them easy.   I always want to be active physically and mentally as I believe it is important to continue to do this for your whole life.   This is what the challenge of life is.

I sing, I act, I write...

and now I am learning computers!

Margot with classmates Amalia and Tutor Del.

 Margot:   I was born in Cologne, Germany in 1931 and I recently turned 82.   Hopefully my story, may in a small way, be of interest to future generations.

I have lived in many places including Israel, South Africa & Canada.  was extremely proud when the large company that I was working for in South Africa sent me to Malawi (we had a branch there) to each them the accounting systems used at Head Office, which was in Johannesburg.   I was there for a week and accomplished everything that was necessary.

I am a very ordinary person who adores her family, is very fond of animals and loves all kinds of music.

I also enjoy reading and movies and watching TV.

more bloggers!