Grape Soda & Dark Chocolate

Adding another letter to my uncle here as a point of grounding myself along with — classical music— grandbaby giggles — nature’s ordinary wonders — memory— air conditioning — bike rides — and the ever present and nourishing dark chocolate. All helping me to stay the course.  

November 3, 2023

“The loss of freedom in one nation, erodes freedom in all the rest. If they devour us, the sun in your sky will get dimmer.” — Volodymry Zelensky

Dearest Richard, 

Wanting to continue to better understand more of your specifics. The big and the small of things. The details less often covered in war textbooks but part of what we might have jawed about after your return. If you had returned. How did your days work? What enabled you to rise up and fly again? Were you scared, like all the time, or was invincible your middle name? Were you aware of the bomber crews stark statistics about survival rates? Fighters weren’t as available as bomber escorts until just months after your crash. What did you know and what did you think? Without the risks you all were taking the evolution of air power would not have formed as it did. So much was on the move in development of military aircraft in the first half of the war. More being learned every flight. There was still a struggle for army and air corps supplies—where to put the money: ground or air support? Where does the air corps fit into the bigger picture? Would it become an independent branch of the military and no longer a subordinate of the army? Questions being flown around (no pun intended). Officers on different sides of the fence. Discovering in steps what air presence could offer to the overall war effort. 

I am so in awe of how brave you all were.

I chatted with a B-17 tail gunner, Vince Parker, a while back. (He sadly passed in the summer of 2021). It was when I was purposefully scavenging for any information I could find to help fill in the many details about you and your experience on a bomber. He had been stationed in Foggia, two or three hours north of where you would have been. He was also part of the Fifteenth. He was there after you, arriving in October of 1944 and staying until the end of the war. Departing in July of 1945. He was just eighteen, having enlisted at seventeen. (wow) He had flown on 41 missions and 24 sorties but not without incident. I realize as he is standing there chatting with me so many decades later, I know he made it home — safely. Am I right that a sortie was typically a task for a single plane and a mission refers to a larger goal that could also include sorties? Is that right? 

Vince was an enlisted airman so his accommodations might have been a bit different from you officers, but I clearly got the gist of how harsh and rough it all was, on the ground and in the air. He gave me this helpful diagram of the layers you guys had to wear. Flying at such altitude and frigid temperatures. Was it true that part of Lusby’s task as co pilot was to check in with all the crew every fifteen minutes while you were in flight, making sure no one’s oxygen mask had malfunctioned or become detached? The crowded space on the plane made it difficult to maneuver wearing your parachute — is that right?  Did some airmen not wear their chutes because of that? I was just wondering. I understood that Simms didn’t have his parachute on when he pushed Jeffries out of the nose of the Powder Ann as it was careening to the ground, saving Jeffries life but not his own. Is that how that all played out? 

What was the hardest for you to get use to while being an airman? What was the most enthralling? What would you never tell me even if I incessantly pestered you for an answer? 

Going to go and make some lunch. My questions will momentarily stop. 

Signing off, 

(Barbara Walters) Your Niece  ❤️

This Week: 

Resource: July 16, 2026, Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson: Read 📝

HCL Talk of the Stacks with Ocean Vuong: Watch , July 20, 2026 🎥

Squirrel Moment: Vocalise by Rachmaninov (Arr. M. McHale for Flute, Clarinet & Piano) Listen with eyes closed, August 10, 2017 🎶

Just Watched: 

For Hope (1996) 🎥

A Shine of Rainbows (2010) 🎥

The Fabric of Christmas (2024) 🎥

Summer Favorite:

Ramble Write: 

“Gratitude is an emotion that reflects our deep appreciation for what we value, what brings meaning to our lives, and what makes us feel connected to ourselves and others.” —Brené Brown

Gratitude for the ordinary. Gratitude for what didn’t transpire but could have easily occurred. Gratitude is more of an intentional focus that I continue to embrace more wholeheartedly. It is about the blessing of health, a new grandchild, having resources to live comfortably without worry.  It is about a functioning dishwasher or sweet juicy cherries on special at the grocery store. Gratitude in the everything in a way that creates a buoyancy in living. It is about standing in place with a spirit of thankfulness. Not always the hard stuff that happens which makes us clearly better for the experience but staying where uncomfortable and unexpected sit. Taking us and what we learn about moving through our lives so we don’t simply stand in place, digging In our heels. I think if we are able to embrace the all of it that is thrust our way, not as an artificial acceptance of gratitude, but with an authenticity that can continue to grow or build on itself is essential.

“… Gratitude allows us to participate more in life.”   — Brené Brown 

Finding that when I address the pain of infertility. Something I have carried for almost four decades. Altering the dream of how I originally thought our family would be created. It forced me to look loss square in the eye and reroute myself towards a path I had no idea where it would lead. There was a need for trust and maybe some naivety was thrown in, not really knowing what the full complexities of transnational adoption would bring to light. The ever present pain of loss and yet it informs me instead of holding me frozen in place. I carry it not as a weight but as an informant. It is what creates a relatedness to others and their losses. It also expresses the gratitude of what did transpire. The babies I was able to parent and now grandparent. The pain is clearly ever present. It might catch me by surprise. I sometimes need to linger a bit with the discomfort that the story I carry continues to reveal. And in those moments I also feel the ever present gratefulness for loving those I was able to parent. There is the juxtaposition of both as I breathe into my place of ever presence. The treasured love I carry for two amazing human beings to whom I would never have known without the loss of a an earlier dream. The dream I presumed was going to be my story. 

“Gratitude isn't pretending everything is okay. It's choosing to notice the moments, people, and gifts that still shine, even in difficult seasons. A grateful heart doesn't deny pain—it keeps pain from becoming the whole story.” — end in mind

It keeps the pain from becoming the whole story and it also asks for a shift. An altering of direction and predictable assumptions. The choice to pivot. That pattern of addressing the unexpected continues. I have chosen to not get stuck in place and it means there continues to be space for me to roam and to grow. And in that growth—become more of myself. 

“Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy and gratitude into our lives.” — Brené Brown 

This Week: 

This coach is on a charm offensive by Deena Winter, MN Star Tribune, Read 📰 ,July 13, 2026

July 14, 2026: Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson Read, July 15, 2026 📝

On my reading shelf:

We Share the Same Sky by Rachael Cerrotti (2021)  📘

Just watched on the big screen:

The Sheep Detectives 🎥

(Riverview theater in lego miniature. So adorable. My favorite place to view a flick and eat mighty tasty popcorn.) 

There is a lesson my sweet grandbaby teaches me each time I am in his presence. It is what he heightens in me just by offering his pure, drenched in the innocence of love way of engagement. And in turn, the fierce love I have for him. Naming it two way love. I don’t want to taint what he clearly wishes for me to see. He wants me to honor myself in equal measure with others. I can feel it when I am with him. If I do less towards myself, in a sense, I am letting him down or not taking advantage of what he wants me to learn. The teaching he is doing by just being who he is. It is as if his sheer essence keeps me on the straight and narrow. Doing right by others and more importantly, right by myself. Without self-kindness, the kindness towards others, doesn’t get offered in the same intentional way. Or it runs short somehow. It offers something less when more is what life asks of us. 

For all of us are to be loved— right? All of us have equal value - right?  That is what babies know until that gets severed and too often — forever lost. But as our lives begin, that is the understanding, and it is what we need to hold onto. We all start little. Each and every one of us. We may think there are more differences than commonalities among all of us but in reality our beginnings are quite similar. We struggle in the growing up. We are hurt by those closest to us. We spend our lives attempting to understand why we are on this earth during this point in time. Asking the perpetual questions: What is my individual purpose? What am I suppose to do with the time that I have? 

Finding the commonalities amongst ourselves more than the differences is one of our life tasks. Wanting to make this day better than the last is another. Offering kindness whenever and wherever we can is another one too. It seems so incredibly simple and yet-- it is not  often done. 

That is the mystery I seek to better understand. The “why not?”  of it as opposed to the “why?” model.  Why not be kind? Why not treat each person as having equal value? It is quite a puzzlement.

Maybe — if I continue to seek the question— grandbaby will teach me the answer as we hold our two way love in place. Deeply loving him more each day as we go to the moon and back and beyond.

P.S. Thank you grandbaby for being just who you are. You are a gift to this world. I love being your grammy. +++

Just watched: 

Finding Your Feet (2017) 🎥

Free For All: The Public Library (2025) 🎥

Related resource: Little Ones (Super Bowl Commercial 2018) 🎥

What are we celebrating on this 4th of July? What is the essence of why we are here? How are we to treat one another? We ALL are part of this ever entangled story. All 250 years. 

When is the best time to do things?

Who is the most important one?

What is the right thing to do? 

'The Three Questions' read by Meryl Streep Watch (May 15, 2024) 🎥

Related blogs: 

The Imperfects: Read (July 4, 2019) 🍇🥤🍫

Watch (July 4, 2020) 🍇🥤🍫

Humbling truth: Read (May 5, 2022) 🍇🥤🍫

Looking Closer. And then—closer still COVID-19: Read , (May 19, 2022) 🍇🥤🍫

Spring—here—now?: Read, (March 14, 2024) Racial covenants 🍇🥤🍫

This week: 

The Cause of Texas | James Talarico Accepts US Senate Nomination: Watch  (June 26, 2026) 🎥

Related resource: June 28, 2026 Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson: Read, June 29, 2026 📝

Nature 365: Adorable 🎥

Opinion | What the founders concluded about presidential power, responsibility and accountability  by E. Thomas Sullivan and Richard W. Painter, Minnesota Star Tribune: Read , July 3, 2026  📰

Opinion | What did the founders mean by the pursuit of happiness? by Timothy Taylor, Minnesota Star Tribune: Read , July 3, 2026 📰

July 3, 2026, Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson: Read, July 4, 2026 📝

Just watched: 

LBJ | Woody Harrelson | Jennifer Jason Leigh | Richard Jenkins | Bill Pullman (2016) Directed by Rob Reiner: Watch  🎥

Reconstruction Destructed: (sixth in the film series) Juneteenth Reckoning with Slavery | OMG Studios: Watch (2025) 🎥

A bit of history: 

NATO, Narrated by Adam Kinzinger: Watch (6.29.26) 🎥

16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, Narrated by Senator Doug Jones  Watch (6.30.26) 🎥

Thurgood Marshall, Narrated by Governor Wes Moore: Watch 250 to 250 project Heather Cox Richardson (7.1.26) 🎥

Food for thought: 

While traveling this spring, I came across this sign:

This week: 

Father’s Day: June 21, 2026: Read by Heather Cox Richardson  📝

Opinion: My father’s lesson that Trump never learned by Steve Wehrenberg, June 20, 2026, MN Star Tribune:  Read 📰

On my reading shelf:

Peekaboo Bear by Camilla Reid

Toot by Leslie Patricelli

Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle 

Vroom, Vroom, Trucks! by Karen Katz 

Down by the Station by Annie Kubler and Sarah Dellow

Taking a station break from the daily news. Getting in to some distractible literature. Great summer reading and with a one year old grandbaby by my side, it couldn’t be better. Rerouting what seems to continuously be getting off track. 

Just watched: 

The Bachelors (2017) 

This Beautiful Fantastic (2017)

Edie (2017)

Watergate | Talk & Draw with Liza Donnelly & Heather Cox Richardson: Watch, 6.16.26 🎥 

Related Resource: 

Confession and Avoidance: A Memoir by Leon Jaworski 📘

Choices we make. Blog entry: History Talks: Read, January 23, 2020 🍇🥤🍫

Think about: 

Code of Ethics for Government Service 

(This Code of Ethics was unanimously passed by the United States Congress on June 27, 1980, and signed into law as Public Law 96-303 by the President on July 3, 1980.) 

Any person in Government service should:

Put loyalty to the highest moral principles and to country above loyalty to persons, party, or Government department.

Uphold the Constitution, laws, and regulations of the United States and of all governments therein and never be a party to their evasion.

Give a full day's labor for a full day's pay; giving earnest effort and best thought to the performance of duties.

Seek to find and employ more efficient and economical ways of getting tasks accomplished.

Never discriminate unfairly by the dispensing of special favors or privileges to anyone, whether for remuneration or not; and never accept, for himself or herself or for family members, favors or benefits under circumstances which might be construed by reasonable persons as influencing the performance of governmental duties.

Make no private promises of any kind binding upon the duties of office, since a Government employee has no private word which can be binding on public duty.

Engage in no business with the Government, either directly or indirectly, which is inconsistent with the conscientious performance of governmental duties.

Never use any information gained confidentially in the performance of governmental duties as a means of making private profit.

Expose corruption wherever discovered.

Uphold these principles, ever conscious that public office is a public trust. +++

Movie Recommend: Pressure (2026) Watch it with an eye on leadership. 🎥

Reflecting on a day that transpired just last Thursday. Sitting on the corner just a few yards from our house. Setting up shop to watch the everyday happen with sweet grandbaby. Tiny chairs and cups of totable breakfast foods that could be easily accessed were included. The show had just begun when little guy had arrived at our house and we eagerly wanted to view all the imminent tree cutting action that was going to happen. Equipment was at the ready. Orange cones were in place to redirect traffic and the presumed show commenced without hesitation. 

We watched with rapt attention. The trucks. The “claw.” The back and forth actions of the fork lift truck. The helmeted workers efficiently tending to their respective tasks as we intently watched while munching on peanut butter toast and sausage. Or that is what grandbaby was enjoying. 

The activity was busy and noisy while also fully engaging. The action never halted. Two of the city tree workers came towards us at the end of their work to engage with our little guy. Bringing him tree party favors to help him remember this experience - slices of the tree's trunk and a thick branch. They both came without provocation or instigation, they simply offered kindness and intentional engagement that spoke volumes within mere minutes. Their actions offered another important component to the experience. The importance of the humanity that is ever present in the simple everyday goings on in a workday to care for our city. The element I wanted him to learn about. The part that speaks to community. The support offered daily by the workers in our midst in the Mini-apple. The place that got hit so hard just this past winter by a very different story. What a contrast. 

Thank you city workers for the job that you do. We thoroughly enjoyed the show and were especially taken by your unsolicited kindness. +++

This Week: 

Letters from an American: June 7, 2026  by Heather Cox Richardson 📝

Scott Pelley on the Bari Weiss Era and His Last Days at CBS News: Watch, June 7, 2026 🎥

Forgive and Forget: Unchecked abuse spans generations by Andy Mannix and Jeremy Kohler, MN Star Tribune: Read, June 7, 2026 📰

Dear Reader, 

An email dropped in to my inbox this week from Adoptees for Justice. I have been following their progress in enacting some essential legislation for intercountry adoptees. They gave some very tangible requests in how I (or you) could help in pushing along their imperative legislative work. 

Here is an excerpt from that email: 

“Despite our massive successes, Holt International, the "pioneer" of intercountry adoption, continues to abandon adoptees by refusing to fight for the PAAF [Protect Adoptees and American Families]. They failed in their responsibility to secure the rights of adoptees, and when the Child Citizenship Act passed in 2000, they failed to protect older adoptees….

… With Holt's substantial influence and resources, they could be a powerful partner. As leaders in intercountry adoption, they have a responsibility to repair this issue. So we have called Holt, sent letters and emails, voiced our concerns, and implored them to join us to pass the PAAF. They remain silent, ignoring our emails and sending our calls to empty voicemails. Over the decades, Holt has profited from adoptees and American families – but they refuse to fight for adoptees.” 

FIRST STEP: Contact Holt International leadership:

Mark Loux; [email protected]  

Susan Cox: [email protected] 

Dan Dietrich: [email protected]

Holt International: [email protected] 

This is what I wrote:

Dear Mark Loux, Susan Cox, and Dan Dietrich, 

Doing the right thing is never wrong. Admitting ones faults takes humility. Honoring all human beings is essential. Being honest when falling short takes courage.

I wouldn’t be a parent or now a recent grandparent if it weren’t for adoption. Having adopted two children, my husband and I, in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s at the height of  international adoption in South Korea. My children’s homeland. 

Realizing so much more now through the eyes and struggles of my own adult children. Seeing them seek to find acceptance in a culture, either in the United States or in South Korea, that hesitates to accept them as complete human beings. Loving them deeply and sensing their pain, I am understanding more about this shadowed challenge they hold within themselves every day. 

I can’t imagine adding another level on to the backs of these adoptees. Adding the lack of citizenship in a place they didn’t have a choice to move to and now as adults being returned to a place they don’t remember. Whether it was done with the best of intentions initially is beside the point. That is something I need to address for myself as well. But if any of us falls short in the treatment towards an international adoptee, you and me included, that harm needs to be honestly addressed.

Supporting legislation, the Protect Adoptees and American Families (PAAF), is the least we can do. It is a no brainer. Addressing what wasn’t done to protect these adoptees is essential.

Doing what is right is never wrong. As a representative of Holt you can be part of a much needed solution. 

Join me by doing it right.

Sincerely,

An adoptive parent 

SECOND STEP: Sign the Protect Adoptees and American Families Act (PAAF) petition. 📝

THIRD STEP: Support  Adoptees for Justice so they can continue their work. 💰

Thank You 

Week 3: The finale

The inevitable happened as I knew it would — possibly in the night. Hearing extra chattering that evening out my open bedroom window just next door. Something was either amiss or on the move. The chicks had become supersized, struggling to find room in their tiny twig and dirt abode.

So—when the next morning arrived — I found the nest starkly barren and still. The activity from the day before became an instant whispered memory. Wow. Needing to take a moment to breathe in that bittersweet reality. The robins left no forwarding address or farewell note. The last fledgling was still perched on a branch nearby, so it wasn’t a complete bust - but- still. Missing them all dearly in that moment of discovery. Knowing this would be the final good bye.

Bye bye sweet, sweet robins.

A little side note: There was another trio of robin chicks wedged more discreetly under our deck in the backyard as well. Harder to watch so there was less of a connection somehow, I guess. They fledged just two days later. One of the fledglings was hanging out on our deck rail for a bit before taking flight. This all transpired over Memorial Day weekend. Capturing the empowering meaning of it all. The magnificent gift of nature just within reach out my window. 

This Week: 

May 22, 2026 Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson: Read 📝

Resource: Activist’s voice  is still speaking by Kyeland Jackson, MN Star Tribune: Read, May 24, 2026 📰

Opinion: New generation of voters must succeed against gun violence where elders have abdicated by Sonia Kharbanda, MN Star Tribune: Read, May 27, 2026  📰

On my reading shelf:

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett 📘

The Gardener by Sarah Stewart 📒

Week 2: Daily miracle. Persistent chicks. Diligent parents. Watching in wonder each time I step up to the glass to see what the robins are up to today. 

This Week: 

Resource: May 17, 2026: Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson: Read 📝

The everyday extraordinary speaking with a clarity that can modestly drown out the political rhetoric that is drumming in my head without ever skipping a beat. 

Seeking to center myself towards what I find essential in each and every day. Finding these simple daily tenets as my lead:

Acknowledge that every human being has value. 

Allow love to lead.

Accept that history connects us all and that I need to learn from it. 

Make this day better than the day before. 

Humility is my super power. Admit when I fall short and make amends without hesitation while learning from my mistakes.

Take a breath while the uncomfortable searches for its home. Life invariably gets messy. Give it time to clean itself up. Accept that the outcome will look much different than initially imagined.

Learn from others, no matter their age. (Grandbabies included.)

Be ever present. Don’t miss out on the ever present spectacular ordinary.

Live life large and out loud as often as I can.  +++

This Week:

Music teacher’s ‘One Minnesota’ song strikes a chord by Jennifer Brooks, MN Star Tribune, Read, May 7, 2026 📰

ONE Minnesota lyric video by Mr. Z: Watch, January 20, 2026  🎥🎶

Thanks moms for all that you do.

Geese and their goslings making their way to Lake Laverne on the ISU campus (April 2026)  

Springtime beauty at Nerstrand State Park (2026)

Mom’s Day, a historical perspective: Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson: May 9, 2026 📝

Puddling pipevine swallowtails in the Great Smoky Mountains (April 2026) 

Great Smoky Mountain's National Park and its wildflower splendor (April 2026).

This Week:

Opinion: Lessons from Ben Sasse’s beautiful and eloquent end-of-life journey by Andy Brehm, MN Star Tribune: Read, May 4, 2026  📰

Ben Sasse: The 60 Minutes Interview: Watch , April 26, 2026 🎥

Opinion: New York Times podcast with Ross Douthat: Ben Sasse on How to live when dying: Watch, April 9, 2026 🎥

November 2, 2023

“History is not just facts and events. History is also a pain in the heart and we repeat history until we are able to make another’s pain in the heart our own.”     ― Julius Lester

Dearest Richard,

Thinking about the commonness of things. The part that speaks to every day. Each person dancing in the street or rocking a colicky baby. Washing grime laden windows or delivering the mail. Flying a bomber plane or darning socks. Walking the dog or burying a son. War shaking it all up into a turmoil of distress and focus. All in alignment, is what I presumed happened after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. How neighbors and grocers, teachers and plumbers, family and strangers moved in a unilateral direction. The disruption and the fall out after.

Wearing so much of this story still. Generations fading into more generations impacted by what transpired during that season of violence. Seeing its presence everywhere, dreams not void of its reality. Buying war bonds, wrapping bandages, filling Red Cross boxes, hanging Blue Star service flags from living room windows or weeding the Victory garden out back. This is what grabs me. The personal and simple. How all would have been impacted and in turn all hoping for an end. An end and raucous welcome when bringing everyone home.

The long and sad good bye. How the dribble of information made the conclusion of this story hard. The war was over but…very bittersweet. 

Here is the home you would have come back to. The apartment Grandpa and mom moved into while you were flying in Europe. The one that you didn’t ever get to see or have a cup of coffee at its kitchen table or lounge and read the Sunday paper in its front room with a view of Nicollet Ave. 

Thinking of you with all my heart,

Your Niece ❤️

November 1, 2023

“And all that stands beside you is your own brave self—steady as steel and ready even though you don’t yet know what you’re ready for. “ 

—Excerpt from “The Day You Begin” by Jacqueline Woodson

Dearest Richard,

What a great day to be born, All Saints Day. Martha Jane’s 99th birthday. But you knew that. A generous heave hoe and blow to extinguish all those candles. Your 99th was celebrated on the mountainside near Volders. Intentionally traveling a distance to sing and blow. But you knew that too. 

Hoping you two are whooping it up in heaven enjoying some angel food cake. (Tee hee)

Love to you both from here on this never settled ground known as Earth, 

Your Niece/Daughter 🎂 ❤️

October 31, 2023

“Motivation comes by age. How did our ancestors and opponents deal with the war?” — Roland Domanig (Response given when asked about why he has chosen to be a scout.) 

Dearest Richard, 

Sending you Halloween greetings. We had a crazy early snowfall last night so all the pumpkins are presently hidden under a shroud of icy snow. Hoping a major melt might happen—quickly -- before the trick or treaters are out on the prowl. The sun is trying to do its part but the Alberta clipper is a total push back on the idea. Lordy sakes. Not quite like the 1991 Halloween blizzard but…. it is still October. Thankful I bought my new winter boots over the weekend. Stomping and crunching with a bit of wind whipping in the dark was the recipe for today’s morning walk.

Crash site scout Roland Domanig provided me with some more carrot as I pulled up the days emails, just as he had promised back in September. He assisted a family in visiting their dad’s crash site near Kitzbühel, Austria. Two US bombers, during heavy snowfall, crashed into each other over the Habersautal in the municipality of Kössen in March of 1945. The war was soon to be over. Nineteen perished, one single soldier survived. What a harsh story to pull through. Tragedy struck so many families in mere seconds, including the Koller’s.

Knowing the significance of being in the place of a love one’s last breath offers unexplainable power and significance. It doesn’t make the truth harder as some might suppose, it is more about filling in the empty spots of a puzzle. Not complete but just enough to hold meaning and memory together. Knowing others are part of this discoveries unfolding, helping to assist with such intentionality, adds a gratitude dimension. 

Appreciating the gift Roland offered as we all headed to your crash site. The importance of such guides. Helping to be a conduit. Piece-puzzlers. On the ground sleuths. Finding clues and guessing with what is known. Using tools of the trade — like a retractable metal detector, something Roland had stowed in his back pack. I believe I had a rain jacket along with some cake, candles and American flags in mine, but no metal detector. Huh. It must have fallen off my packing list before I left the States.

While on the mountain some stray plane pieces were found and given to me. I don’t rightly remember the details of when they were retrieved or what they were parts of. So much transpired during that day, getting over packed into my brain. It is more in the afterwards of time where additional specifics of what transpired can be identified. I do know I sensed the genuine care everyone present gave to the experience. Wanting to be on the mountain on your birthday. A journalist documented the event. The lighting of your candles. The singing of “Happy Birthday” in both English and German. The Lord’s prayer spoken in German as well. It  was celebratory and somber. The landscape was breathtaking. The potential threat of afternoon rain dissipated. There was so much incredible generosity offered by everyone present. 

More upon the more, making any crazy early snow day palatable. 

Love back to you,

Your Niece ❤️✈️

P.S. Here we are, Martha Jane and the rest of us in 1978 in Kitzbühel. I didn’t realize that was one of the spots we stopped at for a bit as we were on our way to Innsbruck. 

When I look at mom now in this photo, I have more of an understanding about the sadness she carried. Awestruck by how brave she was to venture out on such a trip. 

Standing in her shoes, if only briefly, seeing her everlasting love for you shining through. The strength love can offer. The lesson she taught me by her courageous example of how to live boldly and love whole heartedly. What a gift she was to me.

October 25, 2023

“if there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart, I’ll stay there forever.” — Winnie the Pooh

Dearest Richard,

Thinking about where your crew all hailed from, I chose to position everyone on a US map to get a better idea of hometown locations and the distance you lived apart from one another. You all lean a bit heavier on the middle to east side of the country, I see. Finding recently too, as I was digging a little deeper, that Tipps and Katherine, his wife, were both from Alabama. Residing there when the 1940’s census was taken, though their address in 1943 was listed as Hollywood, California. I wonder where they would have called home? Or where they would choose to put themselves on the map? 

It is interesting the details I continue to unfurl. Taking a closer look and then closer still. I think about all of you. You heart pumping individuals. How you all became a more cohesive team during your training. All doing the varied parts that were needed to make everything fly as it should. 

On a more solemn note, I was thinking about where you all were buried. The nine of you that died after the crash. LaSalle being buried in Upper Michigan. Four of you being buried in France. Then you and three others in a single grave in St. Louis. 

This could be telling me more than I want to pursue. I know you were buried near the crash site before being more permanently moved. There was a site that had been assumed to be the makeshift burial plot and that turned out not to be the spot when some excavating was recently done. I don’t know what that might mean for a next step. Or if another step will be taken. One piece comes into place and then another. Not quite knowing where it all will head.

I am still befuddled by why you all were buried in those varied locations. Will this question ever find an answer? 

Feeling this is quite a load for you to carry. I hope sharing your story lightens that a bit.  

With much love and care, 

Your Niece ❤️        

P.S. I wish I had a photo of Tipps.