There are three spots I travelled to that stood out to me for being absolutely quiet. So quiet that you only hear the blood pumping through your ears: one was in the western fjords in Iceland, one at the Sahara dessert in Morocco and then there is Muslone in Italy. High above the Lago di Garda, with amazing views to Monte Baldo at the opposite side of the Lake or all the villages lined up on the shore of the Lake like pearls on a string. It is beautiful in the morning, during the day and at night!

We’ve been in Muslone a few times – this time with my brother Jürgen. Ted and Jürgen – diehard brothers-in-law

Floating through Munich feels like stepping back into my past. I’ve lived here for 15 years, between finishing highschool and until I moved to the US when I was 33 years old. Some things never changed in Munich, like the Tram- or streetcar system, which was and still is my favorite means of transportation. Despite being the slowest, it has the best views, I love the squeaky sounds of it and the fresh air you get at each stop.

And then there are those wonderful discoveries, stores I never knew existed, which make Munich a unique destination. At least for me. Biggest discovery this time:

ORAG Schneiderzubehör („sewingsupplies“) was recommended by another cute store, the Wolltanke („yarngasstation“), where I stagged up on more materials for my next project. To my question where to find interesting buttons, the owner of Wolltanke told me about ORAG and where to find it. And ORAG just made me feel like in heaven!!!

ORAG has everything you need for people like me! This would be a perfect birthday: one day at ORAG, with a cup of tea here and there (and an unlimited budget of shopping of course 😁)

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Another surprise is the reconnection with my Highschool colleagues. Three months ago we had our 40th highschool reunion that was pre-shadowed with this strange mix of anticipation and anxiety, a nervousness of being judged, welcomed, envied or accepted, Three months later, another reunion, this time a mini version with 7 people instead of the 45 in June. We met at the beautiful Augustiner Beergarden in Munich, we had a tasty dinner and great conversations!

Getting to know my classmates now, so many years later, was interesting for a few reasons. One was that – way back when – we were not very interested in each other because our fields of interest didn’t overlap. My majors in highschool were Art and English, most of my classmates had chosen math, physics or biology. This and the low puberty self confidence made it impossible to mingle.

When we meet now, our fields of expertise is still a very wide range, some work as lawyers or engineers, they work at the radio station or at a college in California (hint: that would be me 🤨). And now we are not afraid to talk to each other. Lots of stories, adventures we had, anecdotes from way back when. We talk about our children, how many grey hair they caused us and how proud we are of them, mostly in that sequence. We talk about life, memories and we are thankful that one of us didn’t give up to organize all this: Roland, hardworking and dedicated reunion organizer, who doesn’t take no for an answer! Thank you!