sbee Layouts

MOC Day 20 - Simple Template

 

MOC Day 21 - Hunt For Happiness

 

MOC Day 22 - Geometrical Mosiac

 

MOC Day 23 - Scrap lift


lifted from:

 

MOC Day 25 - Art Doll

 

MOC Day 26 - Tradition/Heritage


This is a story of romance and courtship, though at the telling it was difficult to say if it was the Southern Army Lt. courting the young German Frauline or the parents courting the Lieutenant. But some of those stories are for a different time. It begins on February 14th at a Fasching (Mardi Gras) party in Berlin. The photo on the left, taken the evening of the party, is my Mother at 20, dressed as a candy, complete with petticoats, frills and mesh stockings. I like to believe, along with live music and free-flowing drinks, Cupid was making the rounds to bring two soulmates together.

At one table sat my Mother with her girlfriends and at a nearby table sat a group of rowdy American soldiers carrying on and having a good time. One of the soldiers kept leaning over to ask my Mother, “eine beer Frauline, eine beer?”. She and her friends just laughed, convinced the phrase was the extent of his knowledge of the German language. Later in the evening, continually pestered by another man, my Mother hastily accepted this same solider’s offer to dance. He didn’t know very much German,
and what he did know was spoken with a southern drawl and terrible accent, but she knew some English and between the two, they were able to carry on a conversation. They ended up dancing most of the night and he made her laugh...a lot. From that moment they started seeing each other.

They went dancing, to movies, to parks and fancy restaurants. He drove a white Mercedes.
It was months, after intense pressure from her parents to meet this mystery man taking up so much of her time, before my Mother confessed she was seeing an American. A date was set for August 13th for the 2 parties to meet. My grandparents, not well off after the war, spurlged to purchase wine and meat, set a fancy table and prepared a special homemade meal. That evening my Mother went to the bus stop to meet my Father.
He didn’t show.

She waited for over an hour. Finally, her Father came to collect her and shared my Father would not be coming for dinner. He’d seen on the news the GDR had begun constructing a wall that would separate East and West Berlin. All troops in the area were on high alert. The wall that began that evening would be constructed virtually overnight but it took nearly a month before the scrapped dinner meeting could be realized.

When my Father and my Mother’s parents finally met they took to each other like fish and water. Maybe it was southern charm, or that he always brought a bottle of good wine, vodka or brandy so readily available to the Americans at that time, or, maybe he just knew the way to a Mother’s heart was always through second helping, but my Mother said from that point she often wondered if he was dating her or her parents.

They married December 3, 1961, and were together for 44 years until my Father’s sudden death in 2006. Was it the uncertainty of the time which solidified their relationship? Were they soulmates? Maybe. What I do know is during their entire marriage, moves, deployments, kids, pets and the ups and downs of living, I never heard my Father raise his voice or say an unkind word to my Mother. Not once. So I prefer cupid. Because I believe in love...and in magic.

 

MOC Day 27 Combine 6 Designers

Sahlin Studio Documentary (paper)
One Little Bird Irvine Park (banner, word art)
One Little Bird Origins (banner)
Sabrina's Creations Winter Days (Banner)
Pink Reptile Designs DMAYR (date banner)
Paislee Press Roadtrip (banner)
Amy Pennington Autumnal Stitches (stitches)

 

MOC Day 28 - Inside a Shape (Triangle)

 

Day 29 - Creativity with Alphas

 

MOC Day 30 - All in a Row

 

MOC Day 31 - Then and Now

 

MOC Day 24 Pieces of Us