TWO MORE WEEKS

Just two more weeks and I will spend a week in the land of my birth, and a few days on the emerald island.

A cousin is getting married in the town I was born in, a few short years ago. It's Vilkaviskis, Lithuania where some of the fiercest fighting occurred between the Germans and Russians during WWII. I was only 1 year old when my father packed all of our earthly possessions that he could in a baby buggy and buried the rest as we set out for parts unknown with my 5 year old brother and mother in tow.

I do have fond memories of growing up in displaced person,s camps in Germany before our trip to the country whose streets were paved with gold.

It was quite an adventure when I returned there two years ago for the first time in sixty years. I got to see a house my father and his brothers built before the war. The greatest thrill of all was hearing stories told about my father. My father has always been larger then life in my eyes, and I marveled at the stories that are still told about him. I found it hard to believe how such a quiet and simple man made such an impact on so many lives.

Then it's a stop in Ireland for a few days before returning home. I am glad that I got to see it a few years ago with my wife. She gave me a tour of a land where time and people move at a leisurely pace. The old Ireland that is slowly fading as the economy rises and the old ways disappear. The yuppie latte and wine sipping crowd is causing an old main stay of Ireland, the pub, to fall by the wayside.

As you can see I will be enjoying myself in two short weeks.