Expatriots - Beverly, Pauline, and Hope

Carpe Diem!!  Carpe Diem!!   (12/17/07)

Dear Beverly, Pauline, and Hope,

I am inclined to awaken in the wee hours of the moment with ideas spinning around in my head that occasionally seem magically simple (to me, that is!) and I have to write them down -- perhaps to forget appropriately or frequently to pursue.

This early morning I want to tell you how excited I am about your brief conversation around the bridge table yesterday, 12/17/07, when you all recounted a variety of experiences as temporary expatriates (?)  in Europe after WW ll.  

When I tried to tell you how exciting I felt your conversation was, the immediate tendency seemed  to be an attempt to deprecate the importance of your experiences.  Please admit to something more realistic.  While there may have been many other women is similar situations, your were unique as American wives and mothers (in addition to other working responsibilities you may have had) in a European culture that is changing and, some years from now, may be remembered wistfully, fearfully, joyously, or even angrily.

That genre of experiences will surely be written by others and valued historically.  But how much more prized  it would be to see and here directly from you in unrehearsed and casual interplay!  Whatever might result from his would be for you alone to control.  It is my humble but strong opinion that your descendants would prize this highly.  I can promise you that because of my experiences already with other camcorder tapes that I have made, put on VHS or DVD format and given to the participants for their children and grandchildren.

So please think seriously about getting together again the first meeting of the Senior Citizens after New Years, 1/3/08, and spending some relaxed time in front of my camcorder.  It would not be appropriate to do anything more in planning for this other than just to recall now a variety of daily things that were a part of your life.  If you happened to have an interview with the Crowned Heads of Europe or the Pope  that would be of interest but certainly not the main thrust of this exercise.

Can you imagine how interesting it would be for you if you could see and hear you parents or grandparents talk about their lives -- perhaps in the "old country" if they were immigrants, or during the "roaring twenties" or the depression.  We live in changing times now, perhaps momentously so and I am reminded of that WW ll song  --  "The last time I saw Paris, her heart was young and gay, no matter how they change her, I'll remember her that way".  So let's remember how Europe was not too many years ago.