Letter from Munich, the Grandaughter of MaMa Graf, Verena von Berg

Can you imagine how delightful it was to find the following letter in my mail box?

March 30, 2005

Dear Carole,

I don't know if you are the right Carole. Today I found once again old letters from you, which you once sent to my grandma Elisabeth Graf in Munich. My name is Verena, I'm the daughter of Gunther and Dorothy, which you met before 1980 - I found this in one of your letters.

Do you remember my Grandmother, my father and mother, Munich, Germany??? And what about your son? I found a Birthcard between the letters, he is now 26 years old. Five years younger than me.

My family still lives in Munich. My father is today 71, retired since 5 years, my Mom is 68 and also retired but both are still very active. I got married this year, therefore the new name "von Berg", and I'm working as a journaist in Munich. My younger brother Philipp (Born 1975) lives in Berlin. My Grandma died years before, she got a heart attack and was never like before. A long time ago...

What can I say...I hope to hear from you, perhaps in some german words :-). I already told my father of this letter and he was very happy that I found out your address. I tried to email you, but without success. Could we reach you per Email? I want to send you some photos of my family.

Greetings from a cold Munich to warmer California,

Verena von Berg

(And, YES, I have been in touch with this great family and continue to invite them to our home in CA, so some day...they just might make it to our beautiful coast.  Verena, thank you, thank you.)

The Graf Residence on Wilhelmstrasse

I realized at the Mexico City Olympics that the excitement of the games was not only the excitement of sports. A warm wonderful blanket covers every host city and magical events unfold. There I was, walking up a wide well built "magical" wooden staircIase which led to a very large beautiful home. It was the home of Elizabeth Graf who soon, for me, became MaMa Graf. I say magical steps because every time I went up those steps another olympic adventure awaited me. MaMa Graf's home became an international house. There were guests from different countries; Chile, Taiwan, Japan, China and the USA. We would take Mama to the games which she loved. She also loved having tea and chatting. She had visitors and would want me to meet them. There was one very old interesting man from the forest who sort of sang his words when he spoke and he was incredibly great at, (my favorite), yodling! I think of that very interesting old man often and made an audio tape of him. Years later, although I could understand almost nothing, it was so relaxing to play, just to listen to his sounds, his poetry, his nature.

More than thirty years later a very interesting letter arrived at my school in Capistrano. The post mark was Germany. Hmmm.

Great Olympic Camping Sites...and then Schwabbing!

The line for the olympic camp grounds was long. As I waited in line I listened and tried remembering my German. The line moved at an even pace and when there were only about three people in front of me a German woman came to my side. Now I wasn't able to understand her but some of the others in line translated. "She wants you to come to her house, you can stay at her home". I wasn't quite sure what to do but my first response was asking them to explain that I would like to remain in line. She was insisting. The line moved quickly and although I was still wondering I did pick up some great camping brochures and because it was still early enough I joined an incredibly enthusiastic wonderful woman who had been listening to the olympic committee for years ask the locals to share their homes. The olympic committee was accepting phone calls and would allocate the foreigners to the homes that were offered. This very bright warm-hearted woman decided that...rather than have someone ELSE decide who should live in her home...SHE, quite simply, would do it herself!!!

And she and her family will be part of the next posts!