A Sentimental Memory

 Lately, several incidents have made me think back to my Grandmother, the one I called Omi. I have become so much more aware of what age she was when I spent most of my time with her. She was as old young as I am now! It really puts some perspective on how my grandchildren may view me now and how influential the memories of a grandmother can be.

One of the things I loved doing when she lived with us, was to go to her room to check out her little assortment of special cards she kept, especially one she had given to her mom when she was little. It was a Victorian style card of a child flying on a bird, with a letter in hand. Of course, what intrigued me about this card was a small ribbon attached, that you could pull to make the bird fly.

As she showed me how the card worked, she taught me the German song, 

Kommt ein Vogel geflogen

Setzt sich nieder auf mein Fuss

Hat ein Brieflein in dem Schnabel

Von der Mutter einen Gruss

Lieber Vogel, fliege weiter

Nimm ein' Gruss mit und ein' Kuss

Denn ich kann dich nicht begleiten,

Weil ich hier bleiben muss.

Some of the melancholy sadness is lost in translation, 

but it tells about a bird landing on her foot

with a letter and a greeting from mother in its beak.

The second stanza is her response

asking the dear little bird to fly back

with a greeting and a kiss

because she has to stay where she is.

In this room I also learned how true this song was for her

as she was separated from her dear mom for 17 years.

Right after her marriage, her whole family

escaped from Russia, while she and her husband stayed behind

with, most often, no means to communicate.

When she escaped all those years later,

she could not really take anything with her,

but this little card was tucked into her few belongings.

It went with her from Russia, to Germany, 

to Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil and to Canada.

It's now in my possession and I

almost wished she could have taken it along to heaven.

What would it have mattered?

With a daughter living across the ocean now,

this song has come to have meaning between us as well.

A bird is often a symbol we use on a card or parcel,

reminding us of Omi's song.